Brandel Chamblee pulls no punches as US Open star punished for misconduct

Brandel Chamblee pulls no punches as US Open star punished for misconduct Brandel Chamblee has made his feelings clear after the USGA handed Joaquin Niemann a two-shot penalty for 'serious misconduct' during his opening round at the US Open Brandel Chamblee believes Tiger Woods is to blame for poor behavior from some golfers after Joaquin Niemann was hit with a two-shot penalty at the US Open for breaching a new code of conduct. The Chilean was level-par for his round with four holes to play on Thursday evening when he sent two tee shots out of bounds at the par-four sixth, moments before play was suspended due to darkness at Shinnecock Hills. Niemann was then informed by officials after signing his card on Friday morning – having returned early to complete his delayed round – he was being punished for 'serious misconduct' under rule 1.2b after hurling his sand wedge in frustration. It was the first significant penalty under the newly introduced code of conduct and meant his score for the sixth hole was recorded as an 11, contributing to an eight-over 78 after twice driving out of bounds. A statement from the USGA said: "Joaquin Niemann was assessed two penalty strokes for throwing a club on the sixth hole during Round 1. This act was determined to be serious misconduct under Rule 1.2b." But reacting to the decision, Chamblee, speaking on the Golf Channel, believes: “I never saw Jack Nicklaus throw a club I never heard him yell, an F-bomb. Never heard him yell a profane word on the golf course. He hit a bad shot, you’d hear him go, ‘Ah, Jack’. “Never saw Palmer throw a club, never heard him yell at F-bomb. Same with Tom Watson. Pick your player. Never saw Greg Norman with all those bad losses he had, never saw him throw a club. Never heard an F-bomb from him. JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! All the best sports news and much more on our dedicated Facebook page “Say what you want about Phil Mickelson. I never saw Phil Mickelson throw a club, or yell an F-bomb. “You know, the same’s not true of Tiger Woods? Tiger Wood, the greatest player ever, we all love him. Everybody got rich off of him, but he was one of the most profane golfers to ever play the game. “And everybody who’s playing now grew up watching him. These are Tiger’s progeny, if you will. “And it rains F-bombs on the PGA Tour. Clubs get thrown all the time. Tee markers get destroyed. The players have all the power in the world. “I always thought you would get fined for profanity on the PGA Tour, but I guess not, because when you watch, it’s just F-bomb after F-bomb after F-bomb. Jon Rahm missed a putt and said, you know, screamed the F-word, loud as he could.“ Before he added: “I’m no prude. You know, I’ve played golf. I understand how crazy it gets. But not that I was on TV a lot. These guys are. They are videotaped everywhere they go, and TV is everywhere, so they have, I would say, a bigger burden than you and I would have had, no doubt about it. “But with that burden comes unimaginable wealth. It goes with the scrutiny, and composure is a skill. It’s a skill. It is lazy to throw clubs, and it is lazy to drop F-bombs, when you know the whole world is watching. “By the way, you could be watching with your kids. You take your kids out to watch a golf tournament and F-bombs raining everywhere? “It’s great that this code of conduct has been passed. It is great that it’s sending a message to the players. “What Sergio did at Augusta National? I think that kind of sent a message. I think everybody kind of drew a line in the sand last year at the U.S. Open. “A combination of Wyndham Clark and Rory tearing up a tee marker, et cetera, et cetera. These guys have just run amok, and I think it’s great that the code of conduct is put in place.“ While Niemann told reporters after his second round: "I finished my round this morning, signed my scorecard, and then a referee came up to me and said, 'I need to talk to you'. "I knew I had a misbehaviour but I feel like everybody had some, and it's never going to be anything major like two-shot penalty. "They considered with the whole committee that it was a right decision to give me a two-shot penalty. Obviously I was trying to argue back, to try to not get the two-shot penalty, but it's their decision. "I feel like I wouldn't be happy seeing players throwing clubs and behaving that way so, yeah, I agree. I'm the first one to judge myself when I don't behave on the golf course - that was a misbehave from my part. "I felt like a little bit extra penalised with a two-shot penalty, but it is what it is. I'm going to learn from it." Niemann later added: "They blew the horn [to suspend play for bad light] but after I hit that shot, all the frustration came inside me. Had my club in my hand and I couldn't resist to throw it away. There was no-one there but I'm not proud of it." The 27-year-old responded brilliantly with five birdies in his first six holes after turning around quickly for his second round and he finished with a 65 to comfortably make the cut on three over. And he admitted: “It [penalty] definitely helped me a little bit to have a better round today. "Everything was on. I hit great tee shots. I went out with a pretty aggressive mindset, so it worked out. Sometimes, especially in these tournaments, it could go the other way, and this time it worked." Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more. Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games next season, an increase of up to 100 more.