Joaquin Niemann threw his club, and the USGA threw the book at him. Now the LIV golfer is explaining exactly what happened and how he feels about the price he paid for it.

Niemann was assessed a two-shot penalty for tossing his sand wedge on the sixth hole during the first round of the 126th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Thursday. The penalty turned a 9 into an 11, leaving him with an 8-over 78. He addressed the incident in a video posted by Cameron Jourdan on X.

"I hit it two times out of bounds on the right, two bad swings," Niemann 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. 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."

The frustration built over three shots. Niemann hit two tee shots out of bounds, then found a bad lie between fairways on his third. He asked an official whether the ants near his ball were fire ants, hoping for relief.

The official said no. He played the shot anyway, then lost his composure.

"I was looking around. There was no people, obviously. No one there," Niemann said. "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 USGA said Niemann's actions were serious misconduct under Rule 1.2b. This rule allows tournament organizers to set their own standards for player behavior and punish players who break them.

Under this rule, officials can give players a one-stroke or two-stroke penalty for bad behavior instead of disqualifying them right away.

Niemann wasn't informed of the penalty until after signing his card on Friday morning.

The penalty came with 37 minutes to spare, and Joaquin Niemann made the most of them

Joaquin Niemann timed it himself, thirty-seven minutes between learning his fate and his second-round tee time.

He birdied his first two holes, then five of his first six, carding a 5-under 65 to make the cut. It made him the first player in nearly 100 years to make a 10-or-worse on a hole during rounds one or two and still play the weekend. 

The last instance came from Bill Mehlhorn in 1929.

A volunteer at the sixth hole, Tristan Chang, told The Athletic that he saw Niemann kick a flag that was marking his ball and then throw his club about 50 yards.

"That was a pretty impressive throw," Chang said.

Niemann is the first player to be penalized under the USGA's new conduct policy, which started this year. The Masters used a similar rule in April and gave Sergio Garcia a warning after he damaged his driver and hit the ground with it during the final round. 

Niemann competes on LIV Golf, where he won in South Korea last month for his eighth career victory on the circuit.

Do you think the USGA's new conduct rule is fair to players? Drop your thoughts in the comments.

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Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason