GOLF: Joaquin Niemann uses US Open penalty as motivation to make cut

Bouncing back after a costly penalty in the first round, Joaquin Niemann carded a 5-under 65 in the second round on Friday and made the cut at the U.S. Open.

Niemann received a two-stroke penalty for throwing his club on the sixth hole Thursday, just before play ended for the day at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y. He wound up with an 11 on the par-4 hole and ultimately finished the first round with an 8-over 78.

The 27-year-old Chilean, who plays on the LIV Golf circuit, kept his cool in the second round Friday while posting seven birdies and two bogeys. He birdied five of six holes to start the round.

"Everything was on," he said after the round. "Hit great tee shots. I kind of went out with a pretty aggressive mindset, so yeah, it worked out."

Niemann finished the second round at 3-over 143, tied for 46th, safely above the cutline of 4 over and 10 shots behind leader Wyndham Clark.

Niemann's club toss was determined to be serious misconduct under Rule 1.2b, according to the USGA. That rule states "players are expected to play in the spirit of the game by acting with integrity, showing consideration to others and taking good care of the course."

"I hit it two times out of bounds on the right, two bad swings," Niemann explained Friday. "Then, yeah, got pretty frustrated. 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.

"Yeah, 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. It definitely kind of helped me a little bit to have a better round today."

A two-time winner on the PGA Tour, Niemann moved to LIV Golf in 2022. He has won eight times on that circuit, including a playoff victory over Talor Gooch at LIV Golf Korea last month.

-Field Level Media/Reuters