SOUTHAMPTON, NY – When the dust settles in this wind, swept away by the sand US Open IN Shinnecock HillsJoaquin Niemann’s week will be remembered for two numbers: 66 and 11.
66 is what the LIV star shot on a par-baked structure in the final round on Sunday. No one else matched him – not Wyndham, not Sam Burns, not Scottie – and the five-birdie-one-bogey performance pushed Niemann into a tie for 7th place. This is not only his best finish in six career US Open starts, but also his best finish in a major, in 28 attempts.
“We’re getting closer and closer,” Niemann said afterward. “This is the only direction I’ve seen since I started playing golf to always get closer to my goals and dreams. I know it’s a step forward towards that.”
Niemann’s previous week might have been two shots better, which brings us to that next number, 11. That’s the score Niemann scored on the par-4 in the opening round, thanks in part to consecutive tee shots he hit out of bounds. However, in terms of actual shots taken, Niemann did two better.
His 9 — chipped late Thursday after a two-hour fog delay backed up the tee time — became 11 on Friday morning, when USGA officials announced that Niemann had thrown a stick on the 6th on Thursday night, earning the first penalty (two strikes!) under the governing bodies’ new Code of Conduct. Complicating matters was that at that late hour, the cameras had stopped rolling, meaning there was no video evidence of the incident; The USGA could only rely on eyewitness accounts.
Niemann admitted that he was frustrated and had thrown the wedge of sand at him. He admitted that he had behaved badly. He said he would learn from his humility. But he also said he felt “a bit more penalized”. He said these things on Friday, after his second round.
On Sunday, after his fourth round, Niemann said more.
Asked if he felt like the USGA was making an example of him, Niemann said, “To be honest, yes. I wasn’t trying to offend anybody. I think it was more like something against me.”
A revenge? Hardly. Rather, rules are rules, even if there is undeniably a gray area in this newly created code of conduct. In the second round, Jon Rahm, after an unfair walk on 19, hit his driver down the box like a can in the street. Worthy of a two-punch hand slap? Not according to USGA decision makers. A club swing is apparently not as offensive as a club swing.
Neimann said his blocked shots, at that moment in the stillness of the evening, were simply too much for his psyche to bear. “Knowing the best I could do was an 8, it really disappointed me. I’m not happy doing that. I’m not proud of swinging a golf club. I know I deserve it in a way; I don’t know. But there’s nothing I can do. I feel like I’ve learned from it.”
