Joaquin Niemann’s bizzare Friday at Shinnecock Hills
Joaquin Niemann – rebounded from hissy fit – image Australian Golf Media
One of the more bizarre stories to come out of day two of the US Open at Shinnecock Hills was that of Chilean Joaquin Niemann, who late in his opening round on Thursday, recorded a quintuple bogey 9 at his 15th hole, but unfortunately, that would not be the end of the story for the 27-year-old.
Niemann’s two out-of-bounds tee shots meant he was playing his 6th shot to the par 4, and when that came up short of the green, he expressed his frustration by throwing a club in disgust.
After completing his round on Friday morning (he was caught up in the suspension of play for darkness on Thursday), he was approached by a USGA official who advised Niemann he would incur a two-shot penalty for an infringement of a rule introduced recently for major championship golf. Thus, the score of 9 became 11 and Niemann signed for an opening round of 78.
The LIV Golf player could have been forgiven for feeling his chances of making the weekend were gone, but, with five birdies in his first six holes in round two, he eventually finished with a round of 65, and at 3 over for the championship, he has finished safely inside the cutline in 46th place.
“I mean, I hit it two times out of bounds on the right, two bad swings, said Niemann. “Then, yeah, got pretty frustrated. I’m not someone that like to be in that behavior. I’m the first one to judge myself when I don’t behave on the golf course.
“Yeah, that was a misbehave from my part. I felt like a little bit extra penalized with 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.
“I hit two terrible tee shots, came out of nowhere. Hitting the golf ball at 8:30 p.m., I felt like my body wasn’t quite there. Yeah, I had a bad lie on the third tee shot in between the fairways, and it was a pretty bad lie.
“I saw a lot of ants there, and I was just asking the referee if they were fire ants, and like, he say, no. To be honest, I was pretty — I wasn’t angry asking him. I was pretty normal, pretty chill, because I knew I needed to keep going and try to shoot the less possible.
“After that shot, I hit it, I lay up, and the whole frustration went inside me. I think they blew the horn already. I’m not sure if they did or not, but after I hit that shot, yeah, I was — like all the frustration that came inside me and had my club in my hand, and I couldn’t resist to throw it away.
“Yeah, I mean, I was looking around. There were 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 don’t go your way, you get frustrated, and that was me there.
“I mean, obviously, I finished my round this morning. I had three holes left. 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 misbehaved, but I feel like everybody had some, and it’s never going to anything major like a two-shot penalty, you know?
“So, yeah, I mean, he started talking to me. They considered with the whole committee that it was the right decision to give me a two-shot penalty, which I was trying to argue back and try to not get the two-shot penalty.
“But, yeah, I mean, it’s their decision, and I feel like, yeah, I wouldn’t be happy seeing players throwing clubs and behaving that way so yeah, I mean, I agree.”
Niemann’s rebound and attitude have to be admired, given that he likely felt his 2026 US Open campaign was over for the two-time PGA Tour event winner and the 2023 Australian Open Champion. It is highly unlikely, but who knows, a couple more rounds of 65 and who knows just where he might end up.
Wouldn’t that be a story?
