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Jon Rahm believes there is not enough clarity about the new codes of conduct being enforced at major championships after he was given a warning for his behavior at The Open Championship.
Rahm was warned by The R&A after tossing his club in anger following a poor tee shot on Royal Birkdale's par-three 15th, and the Spaniard was told that any further rules breaches would result in a two-shot penalty.
The major championships have launched a crackdown on poor player behavior this season with the implementation of written codes of conduct, but players — Rahm included — believe there is ambiguity in how the rules will be enforced. While Rahm did not lose any strokes as a result of his club throw, Joaquin Niemann received a two-shot penalty for hurling one of his clubs in anger at last month's U.S. Open.
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No footage of the Niemann incident was released by the USGA, but witness accounts suggest his transgression was far more egregious than Rahm's. Still, the two-time major champion believes the majors need to do a better job of explaining the kind of behavior that will merit a penalty rather than a warning.
"I personally have no idea what the line is. No clue," he said ahead of LIV Golf's tour stop in England this week. "I think you can all kind of understand what it may or may not be.
"I completely forgot about it until it happened. I know they issued multiple warnings over the course of the week. Yeah, it would be nice to have some clarity."
The other player pulled up about his conduct at Birkdale was Bob MacIntyre, who was warned by The R&A for "slamming a club into the ground" after an errant tee shot on the 16th hole in Sunday's final round.
Despite the threat of a two-shot penalty, MacIntyre insisted the code of conduct rules would not make him curb his fiery personality on the course.
"I'm going to do it for the rest of my career," he said. "I try to toe the line, but when you feel you're playing a golf course that you can hit it pretty much anywhere and there's no real punishment, and then you do hit one slightly off line, and you get the biggest punishment you can possibly get, it's just a sore one. Again, I'm going to react aggressively at times. Part of my DNA
"To be honest, I couldn't care less. If I got a two-shot penalty, it's my fault. A warning, it's my fault. I don't really worry about it."
Like MacIntyre, Rahm is known for wearing his heart on his sleeve, and he ran hot throughout the week at Birkdale. He was pictured tearing his glove in half after spraying his tee shot out of bounds on the opening hole of Sunday's final round, which blew his chances of contending for the Claret Jug.
But the former world No. 1 insists his anger is confined to the golf course. Rahm said: "I play a game for a living. I can't really be too upset about how things are going in life.
"Even though I'm very frustrated on the course very often, off the course I'm very different to what a lot of people think."
