U.S. Open: Joaquin Niemann claims he's being made "an example of" with two-shot penalty

Joaquin Niemann says he feels like he is being made an example of after he was assessed a two-shot penalty at the U.S. Open.

The 27-year-old LIV Golf star was docked two strokes in round one for throwing a club in frustration en route to making a nine at the sixth hole. 

Niemann carded a first-round 76 but it was later changed to a 78 after he was punished under Rule 1.2b for "serious misconduct". 

Whether or not Niemann deserved the penalty has been the subject of intense debate over the last 48 hours, with his coach Peter Cowen claiming other players were guilty of the same behaviour. 

Video footage showed Jon Rahm kicking his driver multiple times in round two. 

Niemann, somehow, managed to make the cut at Shinnecock Hills with a five-under 65 and went 72-66 over the weekend to finish on one-over. 

He was asked in his post-round news conference whether or not he was being "made an example of". 

"To be honest, yes," said Niemann. 

"I was not trying to offend anyone. 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.

"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's meltdown happened on the sixth hole. 

He hit two tee shots out of bounds and even attempted to get relief from fire ants. 

After hitting his approach to the green and coming up short, Niemann is said to have chucked his gap wedge some 50 yards.

A volunteer witnessed the incident and gave details to The Ahtletic's Gabby Herzig. 

The Fried Egg's Joseph LaMagna subsequently reported that Niemann's caddie took issue with the report and labelled the golf journalist a "clown". 

Niemann added: "To be honest, it was a good throw.

"I never try to offend anybody, not even the volunteers that were there. I know they do their job and they put the flag and they do the best they can. 

"They don't pay them to be there; they do that because they like it. I was frustrated; I kicked the flag. I didn't get pissed because I got a fire ant there.

"After everything went through, went back to those tee shots, and after remembering those two tee shots, I just threw the club. 

"It was just frustration, but it's more because of the passion that I have to get better and better."