Johnson Wagner believes that there could be more to the penalty Joaquin Niemann received during the first round of the US Open, questioning whether a club throw is worthy of the punishment handed out.
Niemann produced one of the most impressive performances of the week at Shinnecock Hills. The Chilean registered his best ever finish in a major championship as he ended up in a tie for seventh.
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But some will be wondering whether it could have been even better for the 27-year-old. Niemann recorded an 11 on the sixth hole in the first round after hitting two balls out of bounds.
The LIV Golf star was also handed a two-shot penalty on the hole. Reports suggested that he threw a club in frustration having also been denied the opportunity to drop the ball away from fire ants.
Johnson Wagner reacts to the penalty Joaquin Niemann received at the US Open
Had Niemann made a double bogey on that hole and the rest of the tournament played out exactly the same, he would have ended up in a playoff with Wyndham Clark.
Niemann is the first player to be punished at a major for throwing his club. However, he is far from the first player to lose his temper this year.
In fact, speaking on CBS Sports, Johnson Wagner suggested that he would not be surprised if the incident was more significant than many realise.
“He tried to get relief from the fire ants on the sixth right after whipping two balls out of bounds, and I wonder what the conversation was like when the rules official didn’t give him the relief. I think there’s more to it there, because what he did there, throwing a club 50 yards seems every bit as bad as what Sergio did Sunday at Augusta when he took the divot out of the tee box and then threw his club or smashed his driver head against the water cooler behind the tee, breaking his driver,” he said.
“To me, the grey area is wait a second, you’re saying what Sergio did at Augusta wasn’t worth two shots, but throwing the club is? I like this policy, I think it’s very important to get this figured out. And by the way, it may have been Joaquin’s second offence of the year. We don’t know that. First offence is a warning, second offence is a penalty, so he may have done something at another major that this was then his second offence. I’d like to dig more into the bottom of it.
“But can you say enough about this guy? He makes an 11 on his 15th hole on Thursday, comes back and finishes T7 in the US Open. That’s a pretty darn good story right there.”
What Joaquin Niemann said about the punishment after his final round at Shinnecock Hills
Niemann deserves a lot of credit for how he handled the punishment. There are some players who would have felt that everything was against them, particularly if they were the first to ever be handed the two-shot penalty.
He played like he was on a mission to make the best of the situation. Brandel Chamblee said Niemann proved that he could win a major with his performance at Shinnecock Hills.
And speaking after his final round, Niemann insisted that he was not angry with the ruling, but rather the mistakes that seemed to dash his hopes of victory on the opening day.
“I was not trying to offend anyone. I think it was more something kind of like against me. I was frustrated. I had my expectations, which are always super high. I was playing good golf. I knew it was going to be a tough week, a long week, a challenging week,” he said.
“After seeing that and knowing that the best score I could do was an eight, it kind of frustrated me a lot. I’m not happy doing that. I’m not proud about throwing a golf club. I get I deserve it in a way; I don’t know. But there’s nothing I can do. I feel like I learned from it.”
Niemann can take a lot of confidence from the way he fought back from Thursday’s events. It would certainly be no surprise to see him put himself in contention at least once at one of the majors in 2027.
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