At Shinnecock, on the par-4 6th, Joaquin Niemann’s frustration reached its peak. After two out-of-bounds drives and an approach up short, he tossed his sand wedge around 50 yards to the course edge. It landed him a two-stroke penalty, which he accepted. While Niemann accepted the consequence, his coach, Pete Cowan, is still challenging the decision.

“It’s arbitrary because they picked him out of a load of people who threw clubs yesterday and gave him a two-shot penalty. It depends on whether you like him or you don’t like him; it’s two shots if you don’t like him, or it’s not two shots because he’s a decent guy, or he hasn’t thrown it as far or whatever. So, you can’t do that. It’s either got to be two shots for throwing a club for everybody or not,” Cowan said, as reported by Brentley Romine of Golf Channel.

When speaking to the media after his second round, Joaquin Niemann admitted that he was not proud of what went down. In his defense, he said that expectations and pressure can sometimes catch up to a golfer and frustrate them. He did have a little back-and-forth with the officials, too, but had to ultimately accept the penalty.

Because of the two-stroke penalty, his quintuple bogey on a par-4 hole became an 11-shot hole. With a 7-over in just that one hole, the LIV golfer finished his opening round with an 8-over 78.

Many fans also questioned this decision by the USGA. Some even said that the officials were biased because the Chilean professionals play on LIV Golf and not the PGA Tour. But the USGA had a good reason to penalize him.

USGA’s Rule 1.2b on serious misconduct allows the chief referee and championship director to impose a 2-stroke penalty or disqualification, taking account of the frequency, impact, intent and severity of the misconduct. This rule was first created in 2019, but is being implemented for the first time this year.

The Athletic also quoted an eyewitness who saw the entire incident. According to him, Niemann was asking for relief but was denied. So, after hitting his 6th shot, he kicked a spotter’s flag and then threw his sand wedge. Although no one was standing near where the club was tossed, the officials saw it as excessive misconduct.

Joaquin Niemann isn’t the first golfer to show frustration amid a challenging round. A similar incident happened during the second round of the 2025 US Open.

Rory McIlroy tossed his club around 20 yards and even smashed a tee mark in frustration. However, he didn’t face a penalty. And neither did Sergio Garcia, who slammed his driver into the tee box and broke it against a cooler at the 2026 Masters.

The penalty dominated headlines, but it only tells part of Niemann’s week at Shinnecock Hills. Once the frustration had settled and the second round began, his response on the course was different.

An 8-over 78 at a challenging course like Shinnecock Hills would have meant a missed cut, but not for Niemann. Instead, he came back strongly with a 5-under 65 in his second round. He carded seven birdies and two bogeys. His front nine included five birdies and a single bogey. One of the birdies was on the 6th, ironic, right?

Overall, Niemann finished his day in 43rd spot on the leaderboard, entering the weekend.