Brooks Koepka reveals the reason why his coach ‘scolded’ him for 45 minutes during practice round before the US Open

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Those at the top of the leaderboard after Thursday at the US Open will probably be more than a little concerned to see the name Brooks Koepka amongst them at Oakmont.

It has been a disappointing year for Brooks Koepka. He missed the cut at both The Masters and the PGA Championship. Meanwhile, he has not finished in the top 10 in a LIV Golf event since Singapore.

But everyone knows what Koepka can do in the major championships. Only Phil Mickelson has more majors under his belt than Koepka of those in the field this week.

So it is slightly ominous for the rest of the field that the 35-year-old has got off to such a promising start at the US Open. Koepka shot a two under par round of 68 to put himself right in the top 10.

Brooks Koepka says he was scolded by his coach ahead of the US Open

There is obviously a long, long way to go, but Koepka can surely take plenty of positives from how he played at Oakmont. The likes of Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau are well over par after their opening rounds.

And it seems that some tough love from his coach in the days leading up to the third major of the year had an extremely positive impact on Koepka.

“I have made a lot of changes. The past year hasn’t gone very well. I have got into some bad habits and it’s hard to get out of those and you are fighting the golf swing. Last week I felt like I built a lot of momentum. Pete Cowen gave me a stern talking to on Monday out here. I sat in the bunker for 45 minutes while he scolded me so I tried to take that attitude into this week and I feel like I did that well,” he told Sky Sports.

How Justin Thomas reacted to Brooks Koepka being told off at Oakmont

Koepka is such an interesting and intriguing character. He does not appear to give a lot away. But he did admit that he was really struggling after missing the cut at the first two majors.

“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 apologise — I’ve apologised to Rick, Pete, Jeff, Blake, my wife, my son, everybody. I wouldn’t have wanted to be around me,” he added.

You would be forgiven for assuming that Koepka would not take the dressing down too kindly. However, he insisted that it was exactly what he needed.

“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,” he explained.

But it was not too comfortable for everyone in the vicinity, with Koepka suggesting that Justin Thomas checked in on him afterwards.

“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’,” Koepka said.

“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.”