The US Open at Shinnecock Hills shows why golf is protected from bad behavior

The focus then turns to next July’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. The R&A chief executive, Mark Darbon, told BBC Sport in April that he would be ready to drop penalty shots for bad behaviour.

“You want love from the players, you want love from the fans, but there’s a fine line, and one of the wonderful things about this sport is the values ​​and integrity that underpin it,” he said.

“So we’ll be watching that line closely.”

Each team at The Open has an individual judge which makes it easier to enforce the rules of conduct consistently. The major tours are still working out acceptable protocols for their bosses – the players.

Behavior among fan galleries also requires careful management. Boorish individuals can often be heard shouting, at best, funny lines and harsh abuse to influence the outcome.

“Don’t choke Windham” was the last thing Clarke needed to hear as his six-stroke lead blew away last Sunday. Yet in the latter days such sentiments rang in his ears.

Golf is played in close quarters, with fans having the right to share the arena.

There is no escape for the players and it seems we are creeping up to the point where people can shout at the top of the backswing to chase the players away.

The spread of betting in the golf industry on both sides of the Atlantic does not help. And we saw the influence of the party group on the abuse of European stars at Ryder Cup betpages last autumn is an absolute disgrace.

Top-level golf returned to Long Island last week, and some members of the New York crowd once again experienced a dramatic decline in standards.

And when The Open is about to return to North West England, the last time the championship was held in that region, American Brian Harman won it in 2015. It is worth remembering that there were a number of individuals who behaved similarly when he won the 2023 Open at Hoylake.

Harman and Clark have a lot in common with some of their best hours on the golf course. Enrollees at Birkdale are protected and successfully policing them will be critical during peak summer booze flows.

Last Sunday, Clarke and Burns, who appeared just shy of their first major, played on a stunning but unremarkable course.

Despite the brilliance of Shincock’s show, the sport has never been so angry or unruly. Those imposters need to be controlled.

Without traditional civilization, golf is greatly diminished.