US Open competitor Joaquin Niemann Shinnecock’s disastrous opening performance on the 6th hole it was the stuff of nightmares. Little did we know it would get worse.
After a hole-in-one collapse that stretched from Thursday night to early Friday morningNiemann made matters worse with a wave of “serious misconduct.” At least that’s how US Open tournament officials described it Friday after slapping Niemann with a two-stroke penalty for a clubbing incident.
Here’s what we know.
Joaquin Niemann hit 2 free throws for the US Open clubhouse
Niemann’s penalty must be seen in context. And this context may haunt the promising professional for years to come.
In the final hour before play was suspended due to darkness Thursday night, Niemann was beginning to settle into a routine. He countered two early bogeys with two birdies on his second nine, including on the par-5 5th.
As the sun was setting, Niemann’s group arrived Shinnecock’s par-4 6th hole, and it all started to go wrong for the eight-time LIV winner. He struck out his first two OB batters and sent his fifth pitch into a home run.
When the horn sounded ending play for the night, Niemann was sitting 6 in the middle of the fairway. His continued collapse would have to wait for the morning.
After what may have been a rough night of sleep, Niemann returned to the 6th hole Friday at 6:35 a.m. ET. He failed to reach the green on his seventh shot and eventually finished for a tournament-changing five-bogey 9.
But as of Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET, that 9 had turned into an 11, which raised his total score from 76 to 78.
At the time, US Open officials announced via a press release that Niemann had been charged a two-stroke penalty for swinging a club at some point during his mishap on the 6th hole. The incident, the USGA said, was considered “serious misconduct.”
“Joaquin Niemann was assessed a two-stroke penalty for hitting a club on the 6th hole during Round 1,” the US Open statement said. “This act was defined as serious misconduct under Rule 1.2b.”
Rule 1.2bwhich was part of a series of rule changes passed in 2019, states that a tournament “may set its own standards of player conduct in a Code of Conduct adopted as a Local Rule” and that “the Code may include penalties for breaching its standards, such as a one-stroke penalty or general penalty”.
Additionally, the rule states that tournaments can disqualify competitors for “serious misconduct in failing to meet the standards of the Code.”
This is important to note because while Niemann’s penalty notice used the phrase “serious misconduct”, Niemann was assessed the overall penalty (two shots), rather than being disqualified.
At this point, it’s unclear whether Niemann’s putt incident occurred Thursday night while he was playing the 6th hole, or Friday morning when he returned to finish the hole.
