LIV Golfer Sacks Coach After 14 Years Following Poor Start To The Season

Matthew Tipper has confirmed he has left his position as LIV golfer Adrian Meronk’s coach after 14 years in the role.

The Welshman made the announcement on X with a statement that began: “After 14 years, sometimes things just come to an end. Last week, Adrian decided he wanted to go a new way and I have to respect that decision. I knew in 2010 he was a great talent and he has only gone on to prove that all over the world.”

Meronk won six tournaments as an amateur, with the first coming in 2010, before turning professional in 2016. Since then, the Pole’s career trajectory has generally continued rising and 2022 and 2023 were particularly successful, with four wins on the DP World Tour.

That form, which included victory at the 2023 Italian Open, led to the widely held belief that he would be among Team Europe captain Luke Donald’s wildcards for the Ryder Cup at the venue for that triumph, Marco Simone.

In the end, Meronk missed out, but his reputation as one of the biggest talents on the DP World Tour was undiminished and he finished the season as one of 10 players to earn PGA Tour Cards for the 2024 season. 

However, before he took advantage of that, he signed for LIV Golf, where he was expected to continue his progress on the big-money circuit.

There have been some high spots in his six appearances so far, including a T9 in Las Vegas and a T6 at the next tournament in Jeddah, but generally, his start to the season has been slow and he currently ranks 19th on the individual championship table. Meronk was also one of 13 LIV golfers to qualify for The Masters, but that ended in disappointment too, when he missed the cut after rounds of 78 and 80.

While it is unclear whether that underwhelming start to the year inspired Meronk’s decision, there are no hard feelings on Tipper’s part. He continued: “I want to publicly thank Adrian for allowing me to sit in the best seat of the house for 14 years and talk a little.”

Tipper also confirmed that he had not wasted any time finding alternative employment, with a new role at Shadow Creek Golf Club in Las Vegas, which is known for having the most expensive green fees in golf.

There, Tipper will team up with his mentor James Sieckmann, who is the Director of Instruction at its Golf Academy. He wrote: “It’s now time to start my new chapter in the USA alongside my mental James Sieckmann and am excited to go to my first Korn Ferry Tour event later next month. As always, tomorrow we begin again.”

There is no word yet on who Meronk will turn to as Tipper’s replacement, but it’s likely he’ll want to move quickly as he again largely failed to shine in the latest LIV Golf event, in Adelaide, with a finish of T26.

There’s a quick turnaround on the circuit this week, too, with the seventh tournament of the season beginning on Friday with LIV Golf Singapore at Sentosa Golf Club.