{"id":801619,"date":"2026-07-15T10:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/801619\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T10:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:23:11","slug":"jon-rahm-approves-of-player-conduct-policy-for-the-open-wants-attention-on-slow-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/801619\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Rahm approves of player conduct policy for The Open, wants attention on slow play"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOUTHPORT, England \u2014 Player conduct on the golf course has long been part of the Rules of Golf. This is the first time all four majors published their code for the players, and there already have been ramifications.<\/p>\n

Sergio Garcia was given a warning at the Masters<\/a> when he smashed (and broke) his driver twice into the ground and then against a table holding a water cooler.<\/p>\n

The USGA opted to bypass the warning and give Joaquin Niemann a two-shot penalty <\/a>in the first round of the U.S. Open for heaving his wedge on his 15th hole (No. 6) at Shinnecock Hills after twice driving out of bounds and then hitting into thick rough. There were no spectators anywhere near where the club landed in the dunes.<\/p>\n

The two-shot penalty turned his 9 into an 11 on the hole and he shot 78. He still tied for seventh.<\/p>\n

Is it working?<\/p>\n

Jon Rahm, who describes himself as an \u201cintense\u201d player, doesn\u2019t mind the code of conduct. His only question is who it gets applied. Because while the principles and penalties are similar at the four majors, it\u2019s at the discretion of each one how it gets applied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s good. I get it,\u201d Rahm said. \u201cThey have a code of conduct and they enforce it. Why not? It\u2019s not going to change how I play. To go from zero to a penalty? I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

The R&A\u2019s conduct policy reads:<\/a> \u201cIf a player\u2019s (or their caddie\u2019s) behavior is so far removed from what is expected in the spirit of the game of golf, in accordance with Rule 1.2b, the Chief Referee, in consultation with the Chief Championships Officer, may issue an official warning or apply a penalty of two strokes or disqualification, taking account of the frequency, impact or potential impact, intent and severity of the misconduct. An official warning does not need to be given prior to applying a penalty of two strokes or disqualification.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rahm was playing with Garcia when he lost his temper in the final round at Augusta National. He still doesn\u2019t know exactly what happened with Niemann. But his views on the policy made him wonder why this was getting more attention than pace of play.<\/p>\n

\u201cSergio received a warning. I think Joaco maybe deserved a warning \u2014 I don\u2019t know what he did,\u201d Rahm said. \u201cWith all the policies we have on pace play, you get a warning, another warning and then you MIGHT get a penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rahm suggested a warning was warranted on the first offense, especially in the first round.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"GOLF-LIV-AUS\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Jon Rahm told reporters ahead of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale he believes golf would benefit from having a major championship that travels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOUTHPORT, England \u2014 Player conduct on the golf course has long been part of the Rules of Golf.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-801619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}