Joaquin Niemann insists he is “going to learn” from being handed a two-shot penalty at the US Open, although was surprised by the severity of the punishment for throwing a golf club.
The Chilean was level-par for his round with four holes to play on Thursday evening when he sent two tee shots out of bounds at the par-four sixth, moments before play was suspended due to darkness at Shinnecock Hills.
Niemann found more thick grass with his next effort before hacking the following shot – his sixth – onto the fairway, then threw a sand wedge in frustration before returning the following morning to hit his approach onto the green and two-putt for a quintuple-bogey nine.
The 27-year-old was punished for “serious misconduct” under rule 1.2b, seeing his nine become a septuple-bogey 11 in an opening-round 78, with Niemann only informed of the penalty shortly before his second round.
“I finished my round this morning, signed my scorecard, and then a referee came up to me and said, ‘I need to talk to you’,” Niemann told reporters after his second round.
“I knew I had a misbehaviour but I feel like everybody had some, and it’s never going to be anything major like two-shot penalty.
“They considered with the whole committee that it was a right decision to give me a two-shot penalty. Obviously I was trying to argue back, to try to not get the two-shot penalty, but it’s their decision.
“I feel like I wouldn’t be happy seeing players throwing clubs and behaving that way so, yeah, I agree. I’m the first one to judge myself when I don’t behave on the golf course – that was a misbehave from my part.
“I felt like a little bit extra penalised with a two-shot penalty, but it is what it is. I’m going to learn from it.”
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Niemann is 10 strokes behind halfway leader Wyndham Clark, who extended his advantage with a monster final-hole birdie on Friday
Niemann later added: “They blew the horn [to suspend play for bad light] but after I hit that shot, all the frustration came inside me. Had my club in my hand and I couldn’t resist to throw it away. There was no-one there but I’m not proud of it.”
He responded brilliantly to post five birdies in the first six holes of his second round, where he joined Collin Morikawa in equalling the lowest score of the morning wave with a five-under 65.
It [penalty] definitely helped me a little bit to have a better round today,” Niemann added. “Everything was on. I hit great tee shots. I went out with a pretty aggressive mindset, so it worked out.
“Sometimes, especially in these tournaments, it could go the other way, and this time it worked.”
What is the rule and who has been punished before?
Incidents that are considered a breach of conduct include unacceptable language and abuse of clubs or the course, with Niemann’s punishment the latest attempt by golf’s governing bodies to clamp down on bad behaviour.
The Masters used it for the first time on Sergio Garcia earlier this year, after the Spaniard slammed his club into the turf twice and broke his driver by swinging it at a water cooler during the final round.
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Sergio Garcia was spoken to by a tournament official after the former Masters champion lashed out at the tee box during his final round at Augusta National
The policy used at The Masters sees players start with getting a warning, with a second violation then resulting in a two-shot penalty before a third leads to disqualification.
The USGA policy for serious misconduct says if a player’s behaviour – or that of his caddie – is “so far removed from what is expected in the spirit of the game of golf”, officials can assess a two-shot penalty or disqualify the player.
A statement from the USGA said: “Joaquin Niemann was assessed two penalty strokes for throwing a club on the sixth hole during Round 1. This act was determined to be serious misconduct under Rule 1.2b.”
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