Live leaderboard: Round 2 of RSM Classic

A member of the United States Ryder Cup team reportedly blasted Patrick Reed after the golfer complained about the pairings.

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THOMASTOWN, Ireland (AP) — Adrian Meronk became Poland’s first winner on the DP World Tour Sunday with a superb closing stretch at Mount Juliet for a 6-under 66 and a three-shot victory in the Horizon Irish Open. Meronk was one shot behind Ryan Fox of New Zealand with four holes remaining when he went birdie-birdie-eagle to give himself room for error on the tough closing hole. He made par and walked off the 18th green soaked in a champagne celebration. “It’s such a relief,” Meronk said. “After coming quite close a couple of times, to finally open the door it’s just a dream come true.” Fox closed with a 64, and he feared a bogey on the final hole might cost him in the end. Meronk played so well over the closing stretch that it didn’t matter. Meronk, who finished at 20-under 268, Fox and Thriston Lawrence (67) already were exempt for the British Open. The three spots available from the Irish Open went to American John Catlin, David Law of Scotland and Fabrizio Zanotti of Paraguay. They all finished on 273. Meronk, who played college golf at East Tennessee State, will be the first Polish player in the Open Championship at St. Andrews in two weeks. That’s a label he knows well. He already was the first Pole in the U.S. Open last year at Torrey Pines, and the first to even earn a DP World Tour card. And now he’s the first winner, the best title of all. He had finished two shots behind in Qatar and Catalunya this year, and a month ago missed the Dutch Open playoff by one shot. Meronk made sure there was no tight finish in Ireland. His big run started with a 25-foot birdie putt that broke sharply to the left on the 15th hole to tie Fox for the lead. From the left rough on the 16th, he hit gap wedge to 18 feet for birdie to take the lead. The clincher came at the par-5 17th when his second shot was just short of the green, leaving an uphill putt from 25 feet that made for eagle and a three-shot advantage. He finished strong with a 7-iron to the middle of the green and two putts for par. He was sprayed with a bottle of champagne and then took a drink before raising it to the gallery. “When I hit the green on 18 is the moment I realized, ‘That’s it.’ I’m just super happy,” he said.

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ALBANY, Bahamas (AP) — As a player, Tiger Woods wasn’t all that happy with his game Wednesday in the Hero World Challenge. As the Presidents Cup captain, he had reason to be pleased. Gary Woodland and Patrick Reed, who will be part of the U.S. Team next week at Royal Melbourne, each managed a tough wind in the Bahamas to post a 6-under 66 and share the lead after the opening round of a tournament that felt more like a Presidents Cup tune-up. Woods used two of his four captain’s picks on Woodland and Reed. He used another on himself, and showed plenty of rust in his first tournament since Woods won the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Japan the last week of October. Related: Leaderboard | Hero World Challenge pairings give Presidents Cup hints Woods made sloppy bogeys on both par 5s on the front nine. He hit his stride on the back nine with a five-hole stretch he played in 5-under-par, chipping in for eagle on the par-5 15th. That put him within three of the lead right up until he chopped his way to a bogey-double bogey finish for a 72. “It was not a very good start,” Woods said. “Didn’t play the par 5s well early and then got it going on the back nine a little bit. Got myself right there in the mix and then bad shots on 17, 18.” Woods has 11 of his 12 players for the Presidents Cup at the event, and it was clear what kind of pairings he had in mind for the matches that start Dec. 12 at Royal Melbourne. He played with Justin Thomas, who had a 69. Reed played with Patrick Cantlay, his partner at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans each of the last three years. Woodland played with Xander Schauffele, while Bryson DeChambeau was paired with Webb Simpson and Rickie Fowler played with Tony Finau. Matt Kuchar had a successful partnership with Dustin Johnson in two Ryder Cups. Johnson is not in the Bahamas, withdrawing last week to give his left knee one more week to get ready for the matches. Kuchar instead played with Chez Reavie, who replaced Johnson in the Bahamas. Woods didn’t reveal any insight into his plans for next week, only that he wants open communication. “I want to have all the players comfortable with who they’re playing with,” Woods said. “That’s why we’re communicating the way we are, so every guy has an understanding of when they’re playing, what format they’re playing, who they’re playing with, the different options that could happen based on conditions, based on people’s form. “Got to have all those different contingencies ready to go.” Only 10 players from the 18-man field managed to break par on a course that typically allows for good scoring. The wind was strong and from the opposite direction, so strong that Woodland hit 5-iron into the par-4 18th, which typically is a short iron. He even considered the wind while putting. “Sometimes it’s better to miss the green than be in the middle of the green putting downwind,” Woodland said. “We tried to play into the wind all day today, and we did that. We controlled the golf ball enough where we did that and gave ourselves a lot of chances.” Reed did his damage on the back nine, running off four straight birdies through the 16th. Players experienced this wind during the pro-am, and Reed was stunned to hit wedge into the typically tough par-4 16th. “Today I hit a soft lob wedge,” he said. “The ball is just going forever downwind, and into the wind the ball is going nowhere. You have to be patient and make putts whenever you have opportunity.” Cantlay didn’t fare so well at the end with a bogey on the par-3 17th and closing with a quadruple bogey. He was stoic after signing his card. He’s like that on the golf course. That’s what Reed finds appealing. “I get emotional out there,” Reed said. “And he barely has a heartbeat.”

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