Sitting on the side of a bunker in the practice area at last year’s US Open, Pete Cowen chose his moment wisely to deliver “a few home truths” to Brooks Koepka. The American has always radiated a rugged, standoffish aura. His five major championships were won in cold blood rather than with the heart-palpitating theatrics of Rory McIlroy’s.
When Scottie Scheffler left the course in tears after the pair’s 9&7 defeat by Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg at the 2023 Ryder Cup, Koepka battened down the hatches and hid his embarrassment. But after a year without a victory on LIV Golf and back-to-back missed cuts at the majors, Cowen detected a fatal flaw in the golfing DNA of the man he’s coached since 2013: Koepka was feeling sorry for himself.
“I’ve always said that I haven’t given golfers great lessons to win majors. I’ve given them reality checks,” Cowen says.
“It’s just [reminding him] look how lucky you are to be playing this game for a living and making as much money as you are and doing what makes you happy. And there’s only one thing apart from his family that makes Brooks happy, and that’s playing good golf.
Cowen does not entirely agree with Koepka’s decision to end his LIV contract early Getty
“Let’s not waste the talent. It was as simple as that really, because somebody as talented as he is is going to be very competitive in every tournament he plays if his attitude is [right].”
A similar pep talk propelled Koepka to victory in the 2017 US Open at Erin Hills, after which he sent Cowen a signed flag with the message: “Thanks for the bollocking.” It might have worked again, had it not been for Koepka’s “terrible” putting at Oakmont Country Club, where he ultimately finished tied-12th, but it was the starting point of the 35-year-old’s latest rebirth.
Koepka after his 2017 US Open win, one of his five major triumphsGetty
Koepka ripped up his lucrative LIV contract a year early at the end of last season and paid a $5million (£3.7 million) charitable fine to rejoin the PGA Tour. The negotiations were so clandestine that Cowen did not find out about the move before anyone else, nor did he entirely agree with it — “If you sign a contract, I think you should honour it,” he says — and another stern talking to followed in Florida a few weeks ago.
“I said, ‘Right, no excuses now. You’ve done what you wanted, so let’s just go and play good golf,’ ” he says. “He’s definitely happier. He’s hitting the ball well. I know he’s trending. If not at the Masters, I would expect him to be competing very highly in all the majors. The Masters might be a little soon, but the freshness could help him. There’s no doubt he’ll definitely be up for it.”
Koepka’s form on the PGA Tour — T56, MC, T9, T13, T18, MC — has been inconsistent, but that has always been the great curiosity of his career. He still has fewer PGA Tour wins (four) than major titles, and the notion of not being able to properly motivate himself for lesser events was never a healthy marriage with the blaring music and bon vivant spirit of LIV.
Cowen has worked with other top names, including Rory McIlroy, but remains closest to Koepka, whom he has coached since 2013 Andrew Redington/Getty Imagesy
His putting has remained an Achilles’ heel — Koepka is 142nd out of 169 players for strokes gained on the greens — but he has recently switched to a mallet, and two runner-up finishes at Augusta, in 2019 and 2023, are ample evidence that he can navigate his way around the treacherous slopes. That is one area Cowen will not help him with.
“He was just fearless [before]; never left a putt short and knocked in the three-footer coming back, but it does take a toll when you start missing. It becomes a mental thing. I always say putting can’t be that difficult. It’s 12 inches back and 12 inches through,” the Yorkshireman says dryly. “And then you’ve got a 220-yard two-iron over water to three feet and it’s the same value? That doesn’t resonate with me at all.”
Amid all the upheaval in Koepka’s career over the past few years — he joined LIV for $100million in 2022 after a series of injuries had left him fearing his career was over — Cowen has remained a constant presence. He technically started off as Koepka’s short-game coach after a typically dry interaction at Wentworth, but that title always underplayed his influence. “Ricky [Elliott, Koepka’s caddie] brought him over to me and said, ‘His short game is pretty poor. Can you help him out?’ ” Cowen says of their first meeting.
“We went down to the bunker. I asked him to play a high soft shot, one bounce, check and release towards the hole. He hit the shot. It got quite close but it was a duff and run. I said, ‘No, that’s not what I wanted.’ He had another go and it was the same sort of shot. He said, ‘Well, if you’re so good, show me.’ I took the club, one bounce, check and release and it went in the hole. He started laughing and said it was a fluke. I said, ‘Give me another ball then.’ One bounce, check and release, and it went in the hole again. He said, ‘Right, I better start listening to you,’ and he’s been listening to me ever since.”
Claude Harmon worked as Koepka’s full-swing coach for two successful spells, but Cowen’s forthright approach always had a way of cutting through, especially in the lower moments. “I said to him, ‘You give this appearance that you’re John Wayne, but you’re as soft as everybody in the middle,’ ” Cowen says. “With Brooks, all it is, is he wants someone who will tell him the truth. He doesn’t want ego-strokers.”
And so when Cowen claims it is a matter of when, not if, it carries a little more credence. “I know where his attitude is. I’m absolutely convinced he’ll be back there,” he says. “Get within three shots of the lead with nine holes to go, we jockey for position, then we’ve got a chance. That was the plan when he won all those majors. Why change it?”