Despite five majors Brooks Koepka is still overlooked – fifth favourite for US PGA is ‘daft’

The fact that Brooks Koepka is fifth favourite with the Las Vegas bookmakers to win the US PGA Championship is “daft” according to Pete Cowen. But the revered Yorkshire coach believes that this will only spur on his player to defend his title in Kentucky.

“I get Scottie [Scheffler] being rated a better chance than Brooks, because he’s won four of his last five tournaments, including the Masters, and has finished second in other,” Cowen told Telegraph Sport.

“But you can’t tell me there are three others with bigger hopes than Brooks. He has won three of the last six [US] PGAs, has finished runner-up in another, won it last year and also prevailed on his latest LIV appearance a few weeks ago. So he’s in form and has five majors to his name. What more evidence do they need?”

Far from being upset at what he calls “this error”, Cowen can see an upside as his charge attempts to go back-to-back in the US PGA for the second time.

“Brooks is at his best when he thinks he has something to prove,” he said. “You tell him he can’t do something then he’ll say to himself ‘I’ll show ’em’. That edge is part of what defines the likes of Brooks from the others out there. He said after winning in Singapore that he believes what separates him is his ‘ability to lock in and go someplace where I think a lot of guys can’t go’. That’s interesting.”

There have been concerns raised in some quarters that the LIV Golf League – with its 54-hole format and sporadic schedule at venues that in certain cases could be described as ‘resort’ courses – does not allow its members to be battle-hardened for the majors. But this argument cannot surely apply to Koepka, who in winning four majors in three years from 2017 famously performed indifferently in PGA Tour events.

“Yeah, he gets up for the majors, because he knows they suit his game and his attitude,” Cowen said. “I think the PGA Tour has produced 60 to 70 really good players who are within a shot or two of each other. But they can’t turn it on when they need to. Brooks has that in his bag and he knows it and it gives him confidence. He believes that he can win several more majors.”

Indeed, in the build up to the 106th US PGA, which starts at Valhalla in Louisville on Thursday, Koepka has declared that double-digits is his target. “I think that 10 titles is very attainable,” the 33-year-old told Golfweek. “That goal is something that I have had to change, which I guess is the key to success. You always have to keep moving the goalposts to stay motivated and hungry for more.

“I just enjoy the big stage, when the spotlight is on and when things are more difficult. The majors really test who is the best; who has ‘it’ and who doesn’t. As they say in other sports, I am someone who wants the ball with a few seconds to go and that is something that I have had in me since I was a little kid. I think success is defined by the majors. They are the one thing that sets you apart.”

Koepka was disappointed at his display at the Masters, where he finished in a tie for 45th and afterwards he vented his frustration to Cowen, with whom he has worked for a decade and who now essentially oversees his short-game.

“I gave him one of my old-fashioned b------ings when he was moaning to me about his putting,” Cowen said. “I told him to stop whinging and to just get to work on the issue. Again, that’s the sort of thing that triggers him. I gave him a b------ing before he won his first major [the US Open] seven years ago.

“He’s put in the hours and turned it around on the greens since then and with Valhalla being a big boys’ course, I can see him, at the very least, contending. If he wins, he’ll join [Sir Nick] Faldo and [Phil] Mickelson on six majors and at his age that would be exciting. They’d probably still go on underrating him, though.”