US Open shows why golf is on guard against bad behaviour

Next the spotlight will next fall on July's Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. R&A chief executive Mark Darbon told BBC Sport in April that he will be ready to impose shot penalties for bad behaviour.

"You want passion from players, you want passion from spectators, but there's a fine line, and one of the amazing things about this sport are the values and integrity that underpin it," he said.

"So we will watch that line very closely."

Each group at The Open has an individual referee which should make it easier to enforce the code of conduct with consistency. The main tours, meanwhile, are still working out protocols that will be acceptable to their ultimate bosses - the players.

Behaviour also needs careful management amid galleries of fans. Boorish individuals can repeatedly be heard yelling, at best, unfunny lines, and at worst abuse designed to influence an outcome.

"Don't choke Wyndham," was the last thing Clark needed to hear as his six stroke lead was whittling away last Sunday. Yet such sentiments rang in his ears throughout the final day.

Golf is played in an intimate arena, fans are privileged to share the stage.

There is no escape for the players and it feels as though we are creeping towards a point where people could start yelling at the top of backswings to put off players while hitting.

The proliferation of betting within the golf industry on both sides of the Atlantic does not help. And we saw the effects of partisan crowds at the Ryder Cup last autumn at Bethpage with abuse of European stars that was an absolute disgrace.

Top level golf returned to Long Island last week and some members of the New York crowds again lived down to those depressingly deteriorating standards.

And with The Open about to return to north-west England, it is worth remembering there were several individuals who behaved similarly as American Brian Harman won the 2023 Open at Hoylake when the championship was last in that region.

Harman and Clark have plenty in common with what they endured among their finest hours on golf courses. Record crowds are expected at Birkdale and with high summer booze flowing, successfully policing them will be crucial.

Last Sunday Clark and Burns, who came up just shy of a first major, produced a thrilling denouement played out on a great but maddening course.

Despite the brilliance of the Shinnecock spectacle it also proved the sport has never been so angry or unruly. Those imposters have to be kept in check.

Without its traditional civility, golf is much diminished.