'You didn't want to be around me': Angry Brooks Koepka moving on from missed cuts at majors
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OAKMONT, Pa. – Missing the cut at the first two majors of the season left Brooks Koepka in a miserable mood.
“From the first weekend in April until about last week, you didn't want to be around me,” said Koepka, who missed the cut at the Masters and PGA Championship, the first time the five-time major winner has missed the cut at back-to-back majors in his career. “It drove me nuts. It ate at me. I haven't been happy. It's been very irritating.”
But thanks to an eagle and birdies on his final two holes, Koepka, a two-time U.S. Open champion, even broke character and smiled once or twice on Thursday after posting 2-under 68, good enough for a share of third with South Koreans Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im at Oakmont.
“It's been a while,” Koepka said. “I've been working hard, just got into some bad habits and bad swing positions.”
He blamed poor swing mechanics – although noted a terrible putting performance at the Masters sealed his fate that week – and he's finally getting the club in better positions. His perception of the club's position compared to where it actually was he estimated to be off by 8-9 inches.
“Now it's starting to click,” he said.
Koepka sounded a warning to the field that he is going to be a factor this week at Oakmont. He’s won the U.S. Open and finished in the top 5 each time he’s opened with an under-par opening round (2017, 2019 and 2021).
Frustrated with his game, he skipped playing practice round at LIV's Virginia event and spent last week hitting on the range for long hours alongside longtime swing instructor Pete Cowen, who gave him the tough love he needed.
“Pete got into me again on Monday in the bunker for about 45 minutes,” said Koepka. Justin Thomas witness the scolding from the other side of the green. When they both attended a sponsor function later that night, Thomas said, “I was worried; your head was down.”
But Koepka took it like a man because he knew he had it coming to him.
The drive. The approach. The putt. It's all working for @BKoepka!
He finishes off his opening-round 68 in style with back-to-back birdies. pic.twitter.com/dbcJ1MXLx9— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 12, 2025
“I wouldn't have wanted to be around me,” he said. “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.”
Asked to name the last time Cowen chewed him out like that, Koepka answered, “Erin Hills.”
While he may be forgetting a time in between, Koepka remembers well what happened in 2017 after Cowen read him the riot act – he won the U.S. Open.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Brooks Koepka shoots 68 and is two shots off lead at US Open 2025
