LIV Golfer Joaquin Niemann expressed feeling "extra-penalized" for a club-throwing incident during the first round of the U.S. Open that turned a quintuple-bogey nine into an 11. Despite this, the Chilean golfer managed to make the cut.
Niemann's Frustration on the Course
"I mean, I hit it two times out of bounds on the right, two bad swings. Then, yeah, got pretty frustrated," Niemann said on Friday. "I’m not someone that likes to be in that behavior. I’m the first one to judge myself when I don’t behave on the golf course."
He acknowledged his misbehavior: "Yeah, that was a misbehave from my part. I felt like a little bit extra penalized with a two-shot penalty, but I think it is what it is. I think I’m going to learn from it. It definitely kind of helped me a little bit to have a better round today."
Niemann bounced back from Thursday’s 78 with a sterling five-under-par 65, finishing 36 holes at three-over par and advancing to the weekend.
Details of the Incident
The incident occurred Thursday evening as the horn blew to halt play for darkness. Niemann was playing the par-4 sixth hole, having hit two tee shots out of bounds, and was examining a bad lie in the native area after his third tee shot.
"I saw a lot of ants there and I was just asking the referee if they were fire ants, and like, he says, no," Niemann said. "To be honest, I wasn’t angry asking him. I was pretty normal, pretty chill, because I knew I needed to keep going."
After his layup shot, the frustration boiled over. "After that shot, I hit it, I lay up, and the whole frustration went inside me. After I hit that shot, all the frustration that came inside me and had my club in my hand and I couldn’t resist to throw it away."
The Athletic's Gabby Herzig reported that a tournament volunteer estimated the thrown wedge flew approximately 50 yards. Niemann noted, "I was looking around. There was no people, obviously. No one there. I’m not proud of it, but yeah, I mean, sometimes, you know, all the expectation of trying to play well and things doesn’t go your way, you get frustrated, and that was me there."
The Penalty Applied
After completing his first round early Friday morning, Niemann was notified of a two-stroke penalty under Rule 1.2b, which governs the Code of Player Conduct.
"Signed my scorecard and then a referee came up to me and said, ‘I need to talk to you.’ I was, like, sure. I knew I had a misbehavior, but I feel like everybody had some, and it’s never going to anything major like two-shot penalty, you know?" Niemann said.
"They consider with the whole committee that it was a right decision to give me a two-shot penalty. Obviously I was trying to argue back and try to don’t get those two-shot penalty. But, yeah, I mean, it’s their decision. I wouldn’t be happy seeing players throwing clubs and behaving that way so yeah, I mean, I agree."
Despite the setback, Niemann gathered himself in the half-hour between his delayed first round and the second round, carding a stunning 65 to work his way under the cut line. However, questions on Friday still focused on the club throw and penalty.
"Yeah, I played good today too, though. Thank you. Thanks for asking," he said.
