Adrian Meronk goes full circle at St Andrews to pull off historic Dunhill Links win

In a crosswind on the Old Course with gusts of up to 25mph, the 33-year-old German-born player signed off with a four-under-par 68 for a 20-under-par total, winning by two shots from South African Casey Jarvis, the overnight leader, and Dane Niklas Norgaard.

It was Meronk’s fifth DP World Tour victory, adding to an Irish Open, Australian Open, Italian Open and an Andalucia Masters on an impressive CV.

“It’s unreal,” he admitted of his full circle moment - he picked up a cheque for $816,000 and jumped 103 spots to 38th in the Race to Dubai Ranking - at the home of golf in the paid ranks.

Referring to his emotional reaction in the recorder’s hut as Jarvis failed to convert an eagle attempt from the Valley of Sin to force a play-off, he added: “I never usually cry, To win here after ten years after turning pro, it's a dream come true. I'm extremely happy.”

After a birdie-birdie start - he rolled in a 35-footer at the first to get the juices flowing - Meronk, who had Edinburgh man Stuart Beck on his bag, moved level with Jarvis before the South African edged his nose in front again with back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth.

The pivotal point in the closing circuit came when Jarvis, having just bogeyed the ninth, also dropped a shot at the par-3 11th, where his chip ended up further away than where it had started after rolling back off the green and Meronk birdied the 12th soon afterwards in the group ahead.

“I felt like I've been in a weird place,” admitted the winner, who is a member of the Cleeks team on LIV Golf. “Felt like I played quite solid golf and I couldn't get any results and it was very frustrating, and I was getting very angry, very sad sometimes, very disappointed.

“Every week, I felt like I played well and just was making silly mistakes and finishing bottom of the tournament. And it kept going for months. To be honest, two months ago I was thinking that I might even have taken a break from golf. I wasn't enjoying it as much as I used to.

“To be sitting here now with that trophy just shows you how quick it can change. Golf is such a strange sport. One day, you know, you're fighting for life, and then you win one of the biggest tournaments on tour.

“It's amazing, and it just shows you to keep on going, keep on believing and keep on working. That's what I did, and I'm super, super grateful for my people around me that push me every day to keep on going and keep believing in myself.”

Like other LIV Golf players, the new Dunhill Links champion is waiting to see what the 2.0 model is going to look like. “It's a little bit unknown, to be honest,” he said. “Obviously I came here (to play on the DP World Tour) after the LIV season was done to keep my playing rights for next season.

“Obviously this helps me a lot. So I'm going to have to re-evaluate my goals, my schedule and how my future will look like but this helps a lot for sure.”