The upper reaches of the US Open leaderboard featured a name we haven’t seen in a Major for some time, Brooks Koepka, following his hugely impressive two-under opening round of 68 at Oakmont.
The LIV Golfer, who won back-to-back US Open titles in 2017 and 2018, has largely disappointed in Majors since winning the PGA Championship two years ago, with no top-10 finishes since and successive missed cuts in the opening two of 2025.
However, something of the Koepka who had rightly been considered a Major specialist until that run had returned on Thursday, with the 35-year-old finishing his round just two back of the lead.
Afterwards, he attributed that return to form to the work he did with coach Pete Cowen ironing out bad habits in the build-up to the event, including a dressing down in a bunker. He said: “Yeah, I feel good. It's nice to put a good round together. It's been a while. I've been working hard, just got into some bad habits and bad swing positions.
“We worked pretty hard last week, Pete Cowen and Jeff Pierce were on me pretty good, and Pete got into me again on Monday, in the bunker for about 45 minutes. I just sat there, and he scolded me pretty well.
“Yeah, it's just a matter of executing the feels versus perception for where I've been, I think. It's been so far off, it's on opposite sides, but now it's starting to click. Unfortunately, we're about halfway through the season, so that's not ideal, but we're learning.”
But what did Koepka, who finished T14 at LIV Golf Virginia last week, work on to address the suboptimal swing positions? He explained: “Just getting the club in a better spot. Yeah, like I said, my perception of where the golf club was and where it was was eight inches off, nine inches off.
“We spent all last week from what I got there at RTJ on Tuesday, I didn't play the golf course Tuesday or Wednesday. We just sat on the range and hit balls some long hours last week. It's started to feel good. It's starting to click. I'm starting to see the ball flight evolve where it's a nice little fade and I don't have the two-way miss going. Very consistent now.”
Koepka’s recent struggles in Majors hadn’t done anything for his state of mind, either. He added: “Yeah, I would say from the first weekend in April until about last week, you didn't want to be around me. It drove me nuts. It ate at me. I haven't been happy. It's been very irritating. It's a lot -I mean, I had to apologize - I've apologized to Rick, Pete, Jeff, Blake, my wife, my son, everybody. I wouldn't have wanted to be around me.”
He also elaborated on what was leading to those frustrations: “I wasn't consistent enough,” he explained. “When I felt like I cut one, it was drawing. I felt like I blocked one, it would go straight. I just had no sense of reality of where things were. My perception, like I said, was so far off. I haven't seen it on video today, but I would probably look that my swing looks quite similar to how it did in '13 or years past. It's definitely trending in that direction.”
Koepka then returned to the home truths delivered to him by Cowen on Monday, adding: “I'll put it this way: JT thought he had to come check on me in the bunker. We were in there for about 45 minutes, and he was on the other side of the green.
“I saw him Monday night. We were at a Rolex function. He was like, ‘I was worried; your head was down.’ Yeah, Pete, I'll keep that between us. I wasn't happy with it, but it was something I think you need to hear or I needed to hear at the right time. It's not the first time he's done it. He's not afraid to.”
However, it appears Koepka wouldn’t have it any other way, continuing: “I don't like having ‘yes’ people around me. I just want somebody to tell me the truth, tell me what's going on, what they see. If I start swaying from being Brooks Koepka, then I want someone to call me out on it, and he did a helluva job on it. “
Given the evidence of his opening round, few would disagree.
