COWEN THE HOARSE WHISPERER FIRES KOEPKA’S HOT STREAK

PETE COWEN said a no-nonsense Yorkshire rollocking before last year’s US Open put Brooks Koepka on the road to Major glory.

And the swing guru revealed a horse doctor helped cure the wrist problem which then threatened the career of the US PGA champion. The new world No.2, who started his pro career on the European Challenge Tour, has now won three of his last six Majors. His nerveless win in the US PGA follows back-to-back US Open triumphs.

But Rotherham-based Cowen, who is Koepka’s short-game coach, said the American (right, holding the trophy alongside girlfriend Jena Sims), needed to hear some home truths before his first Major triumph last year.

“I gave him a huge rollocking on the Tuesday of Erin Hills,” recalled Cowen. “I’d followed him around at Memphis in the tournament the week before and his body language was awful. He was caught in a run of seconds and was saying ‘I’ll never win’. It was a bit ‘poor me’.

“So I told him that with that attitude he was not going to win anything. It shocked him a bit because the penny seemed to drop quickly. At Shinnecock Hills this year I told him to go and defend his title because nobody defends the US Open and last week I said: ‘Become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world’.”

Koepka missed The Masters after wrist surgery and saw a horse chiropractor. Cowen added: “He paid him 50 bucks and was in there half an hour.”