That Joaquin Niemann was even playing in Sunday’s U.S. Open final round at Shinnecock was a minor miracle.

It was Niemann, remember, who posted a 7-over-par 11 on the par-4 sixth hole in the completion of his first round Friday morning.

The 27-year-old from Chile, who plays on LIV Golf, rallied admirably with a 5-under 65 in his second round to make the cut comfortably.

In Sunday’s final round, Niemann closed with a 4-under 66 — the low round of the day — to finish tied for seventh at 1 over for the week.

That result qualified Niemann for the 2027 U.S. Open, with those in the top 10 getting an automatic invite.

“Obviously, good golf takes care of it,’’ Niemann said after his round. “What I was trying to do was put a low round. We saw Tommy [Fleetwood] last [time the U.S. Open was at Shinnecock, in 2018] put in a 63 in the clubhouse early in the morning, and I was just focusing on that.

“I was focusing on trying to hit 63, trying my best. Ended up just short, but really happy with the round today.’’

Niemann said that other than that meltdown on No. 6 in the first round, hitting two balls out of bounds and later being penalized two strokes for throwing his sand wedge in anger, “I played great.’’

If he’d parred that hole, Niemann would be 6-under for the week, which would have been good enough to win the tournament.

“To be honest, after that tee shot on No. 6, I wasn’t feeling that comfortable off the tee after seeing those two balls going that way and then having to play three more times that hole,’’ Niemann said. “It tests you to have the right mindset into that hole. Good and bad shots are going to happen every time, and it happened two times in a row. It was something to learn from.’’

Niemann got into the field by finishing in the top three in the LIV individual race, a special exemption the USGA created as an avenue for LIV players to play the tournament.

Yet he said Sunday he felt like the USGA made an example out of him with the two-shot penalty.

“To be honest, yes,’’ he said. “I was not trying to offend anyone. 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 8, it kind of frustrated me a lot. I’m not happy doing that. I’m not proud about throwing a golf club. 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 [marking the ball]. I didn’t get pissed because I got a fire ant there. It was just frustration, but it’s more because of the passion that I have to get better and better.

“I get [what] I deserve in a way, I don’t know. But there’s nothing I can do. I feel like I learned from it.’’

Then he added with a laugh, “To be honest, it was a good throw.’’