What Joaquin Niemann said about throwing club, penalty at U.S. Open, bounce-back round
SOUTHAMPTON, New York — Joaquin Niemann counted the minutes — 37 — between being assessed a two-shot penalty for throwing a sand wedge and the start of one of the best bounce-back rounds in U.S. Open history.
On Friday morning, Niemann was notified after signing his first-round scorecard (a 76 that turned into a 78) of the two-shot penalty for his club throw Thursday night before his round was halted due to darkness.
“Took me probably 30 minutes to get over it (Friday morning), then two minutes to hit some tee shots, two putts, and then go out (to play round two),” said Niemann, a 27-year-old from Chile.
Niemann birdied five of his first six holes en route to a 5-under 65, matching the low round of the morning wave.
“Everything was on,” he said. “I hit great tee shots. I kind of went out with a pretty aggressive mindset.”
He went from tied for 139th after round one to inside the cut line with the afternoon groups still to finish.
The two-shot penalty meant he made a septuple-bogey 11 on the sixth hole on Thursday.
He would be the first player in nearly 100 years to make a U.S. Open cut after making a 10 or worse in rounds one or two, according to Elias Sports Bureau. The last was Bill Mehlhorn, who carded a 10 in round one in 1929.
Video of Niemann’s transgression hasn’t surfaced, but Gabby Herzig of the Athletic, citing a volunteer on course, reported that Niemann threw the club about 50 yards.
“All the frustration that came inside me and had my club in my hand, and I couldn’t resist to throw it away,” Niemann said Friday. “I was looking around. There was no people, obviously. No one there. I’m not proud of it, but yeah, I mean, sometimes all the expectation of trying to play well and things doesn’t go your way, you get frustrated, and that was me there.”
The USGA’s ShotCast shows that his tee shot went way right out of bounds. Niemann teed up again and again went out of bounds, leading to a third tee shot in the Long Island gloaming.
“Got pretty frustrated,” he said. “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 (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 was a promising player on the PGA Tour, winning one tournament each in 2019 and 2022, before going to LIV Golf later in 2022. In 12 major starts since joining LIV, he had one top-10 and four missed cuts going into this U.S. Open.
