Tag: Pete Cowen

Rory McIlroy splits with Pete Cowen, returns to longtime swing instructor

The four-time major winner confirmed the change Wednesday to Golfweek.

Rory McIlroy has parted ways with Pete Cowen, the swing instructor he began working with eight months ago, and has reunited with his longtime coach, Michael Bannon.

The four-time major winner confirmed the change Wednesday when Golfweek asked if he has resumed working with the instructor who taught him from childhood.

“Yes, Michael and I are back working together,” McIlroy said. “I’ve always had a relationship with Pete and I’ll ask for his input if I feel I need it. But now it’s Michael and me.”

McIlroy last worked with Cowen at the Ryder Cup in late September. He grew emotional in a TV interview that week, expressing frustration that he hadn’t played better for his team. On October 17, he won the CJ Cup in Las Vegas for his 20th PGA Tour title. A few days later at his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, McIlroy resumed working with Bannon, who first began coaching him as an 8-year-old prodigy.

That was Bannon’s first trip to the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic began more than 18 months ago. Bannon is now back in Florida as McIlroy prepares for next week’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

McIlroy has admitted to searching for his game during the months Bannon remained at home in Northern Ireland, and to losing his way while attempting to imitate Bryson DeChambeau’s swing speed last winter. At the Players Championship in March, he began working with Cowen, a 70-year-old Englishman who is a familiar presence at PGA Tour events. Cowen has coached a lengthy roster of elite players, including Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson and Brooks Koepka.

Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland works with coach Pete Cowen and caddie Harry Diamond on the range during a practice round prior to the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 06, 2021 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

After missed cuts at the Players Championship and the Masters, McIlroy won the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow for the third time. But that early success was overtaken by a consistent decline in his ball-striking and results. McIlroy recorded only one other top 10 finish on the PGA Tour — a tie for 7th at the U.S. Open in June — until the BMW Championship, by which time he had publicly said he was trying to take more ownership of his golf swing.

Statistics revealed a man struggling. McIlroy has not ranked outside the top six in Strokes Gained Off the Tee in any season of his PGA Tour career, but this summer he failed to crack the top 15 in several events and was outside the top 40 at the PGA Championship and Memorial Tournament. His iron play was worse: only twice while working with Cowen did he rank inside the top 10 in Strokes Gained Approach. Even his victory at the CJ Cup exposed full swing issues. His Strokes Gained Approach — in which he lost 3.6 shots to the field and ranked 67th among 77 competitors — was the worst recorded by a PGA Tour winner in the Shotlink stats era. However, McIlroy led the field in putting and held off Collin Morikawa by a single shot.

During the summer, McIlroy fell to as low as 15th in the Official World Golf Rankings. He is currently ranked No. 8 (he sits at No. 17 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings). He plans to play just two more events in 2021: the DP World Championship next week and the Hero World Challenge, hosted by Tiger Woods, which will be contested December 2-5 in the Bahamas.

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Rory McIlroy’s recent realization could be first step in returning to the top of the golf world

“For the last few months I was maybe trying to be someone else to try and get better, and I sort of realized that being me is enough.”

One year, six months, and six days. That was the winless drought Rory McIlroy broke at the Wells Fargo Championship back in May, his first triumph since becoming a father – insert perspective joke here.

Fast-forward five months and McIlroy once again lifted a trophy at the CJ Cup, played at The Summit Club in Las Vegas. This win, much like the one at Quail Hollow, was unexpected.

The last time we saw McIlroy was at Whistling Straits where he lost three of four matches at the 43rd Ryder Cup, and seemed to be treading water. He opened the week in Wisconsin with two losses on Friday, the first time he’s lost two matches on the same day in his Ryder Cup career. He’d be benched for Saturday’s morning session before losing once again in afternoon  Four-ball.

That night, McIlroy wanted nothing to do with golf.

“I didn’t want to see golf again until 2022,” he said.

McIlroy was the first match out Sunday morning, playing against gold-medal winner Xander Schauffele. He entered that match with a different mindset. “I went out there and I won my point by doing whatever I could. I wasn’t trying to be perfect,” McIlroy said. “I wasn’t trying to hit shots that I wasn’t comfortable hitting, I just went out there to try to win my match and I did.”

Being himself, McIlroy earned a point for Europe with a 3-and-2 win.

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Over the last year, we’ve seen McIlroy make changes, highlighted by the pursuit for more distance after Bryson DeChambeau’s win at Winged Foot. McIlroy, for context, has ranked inside the top five in driving distance on Tour since 2017, and is widely considered one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the history of the game.

Back in March it was reported McIlroy was working with Pete Cowen, while never breaking communication with his long time swing coach, Michael Bannon. Cowen was brought in to work on McIlroy’s wedge game, but more importantly to help the Northern Irishman better understand his swing allowing him to adjust on the fly during the course of a round.

“Where I think Pete is out on Tour enough to sort of give me maybe feels that I can play with and then stuff that I can work on the range.” McIlroy said during WGC Dell Technologies Match Play week back in March. “As everyone knows, it’s so hard to go out on the golf course and think so much about your golf swing.

“You need to be able to let that go and just be able to play shots. But if you have a couple little feels in there, it can help, and that’s sort of the reason that I’ve went down this road.”

Their early relationship showed little-to-no results with missed cuts at the Players (as the defending champion), and Masters. However, his very next start would force McIlroy to find some more room in the trophy case. After his win at the Wells Fargo, McIlroy’s game was good enough for six top 20s in his last eight Tour starts of the season (Olympics included), but never really had a chance to win.

Now, we’re here.

A realization that Rory being Rory is good enough to win, a fact seemingly known by everyone in the game expect McIlroy.

“I think for the last few months I was maybe trying to be someone else to try and get better, and I sort of realized that being me is enough, and I can do things like this.”

The return to his roots may be a result of another coaching change, as McIlroy reportedly returned to the sole guidance of Bannon as of the conclusion of the Ryder Cup.

A confident McIlroy is a scary sight for the rest of the PGA Tour. If he truly embraces his game being not only good enough to win, but good enough to return him to best player in the world status, his notorious bouncing-stride will become common-place Sunday afternoons.

“I’m capable of winning a lot of events on the PGA Tour and being the best player in the world.”

We’ll see McIlroy again in a few weeks, as he’s joined the star-studded field in Albany, The Bahamas for Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge.

With his recent form, it’s important to note: Only 169 days until the opening round of the Masters.

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Pay attention — Brooks Koepka is circling at Kiawah and loves ‘when it’s difficult’

After his first-round 69, Brooks Koepka said: “It’s a major. I’m going to show up. I’m ready to play.”

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – On Tuesday, Brooks Koepka was asked about the timeline surgeons gave him to recover from a March procedure on his right knee. “Like 100 percent? We’re talking probably another six months,” he said.

What’s your timeline?

“Ahead of that,” he replied.

About six months ahead, based on his performance Thursday in the first round of the PGA Championship. The two-time former champion toured Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course in 69 shots to grab a share of the early lead.

“It’s a major. I’m going to show up. I’m ready to play,” Koepka said. “I feel so much better now. I don’t need to be 100 percent to be able to play good.”

It was the Minor Koepka of the last few months who began his round on the 10th hole — carding an ugly double-bogey — but it was the more familiar Major Koepka who took over, adding six birdies to yet again position himself atop the leaderboard in one of golf’s four more important championships.

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: Leaderboard | How to watch

After winning the Waste Management Phoenix Open and finishing second at the WGC-Workday Championship in February, Koepka had to withdraw from the Players Championship with his knee injury. Despite that lengthy surgeon’s timeframe, he returned just weeks later at the Masters, where he missed the cut. A month after that — three weeks of which he didn’t touch a club while having daily rehab — he played the AT&T Byron Nelson in Texas, where he also missed the cut.

Yet on Thursday Koepka dismissed that disappointing stretch with the cocky insouciance of a man who considers himself built for major championships that matter. “I felt like I already had confidence. In my mind, it’s just a major week,” he said. “Just show up. That’s all you’ve got to do.”

Over the last four years, Koepka has shown up for majors more reliably than any of golf’s elite players. He’s won four of them since 2017, including the PGA Championship in 2018 and 2019. But a series of speed-bumps—knee, hip and neck ailments, plus a split with his longtime coach Claude Harmon III—have slowed his charge more recently. His opening 69 is the first time he has put himself into the frame in a major in almost two years.

Koepka’s 69 was not owed to accuracy off the tee. He found only 5 of 14 fairways in blustery conditions on the Ocean Course but hit 13 of 18 greens, good enough to rank 1st in Strokes Gained Approach as the afternoon wave began. The former world No. 1 clipped his two playing partners by six strokes—both Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas shot 75—but he admitted that his errant driver needs to improve if he is to win a fifth major title.

“I’ve got to figure it out because if I don’t figure it out, I won’t be there Sunday or have a chance,” he said. After his round, Koepka went back to the practice range to work with his swing instructor Pete Cowen.

The winds raking across this South Carolina barrier island made for tricky playing conditions Thursday and the first round scoring average when Koepka signed his card was 74.54. The forecast is similar for the remainder of the week, which suits the 31-year-old Floridian just fine.

“I love it when it’s difficult. I think that’s why I do so well in the majors,” he said. “I just know mentally I can grind it out. You’ve just got to accept it and move on.”

Koepka’s name on a major leaderboard gets noticed about as quickly as a shark in a swimming pool, his presence registered by everyone in the vicinity. Asked if he felt he had arrived at Kiawah Island flying under the radar, Koepka insisted he was just focused on his knee rehab and nothing else.

“I haven’t paid attention,” he said of the tournament chatter.

Perhaps he hasn’t, but he surely knows he’s everyone else in the field is paying attention to him now.

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Rory McIlroy’s familiar assets help craft a new strategy: ‘I’ve neglected my strengths a little’

McIlroy, who turned 32 Tuesday, hasn’t been himself since golf returned last June after a 13-week break due to COVID-19.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Rory McIlroy is close to being Rory McIlroy again.

The former world No. 1 and four-time major champion thinks he’s emerging from the fog of the past 11 months, a dreary stretch that prolonged a winless span nearing 550 days and had him making major swing changes that threw him off-kilter that eventually moved him to seek help.

McIlroy, who turned 32 Tuesday, hasn’t been himself since golf returned last June after a 13-week break due to COVID-19. He likened playing in front of vacant galleries to nothing more than playing practice rounds and was challenged to maintain focus and find the proper intensity to play well.

Then he started chasing Bryson DeChambeau, who bulked up and sped up to become of the one game’s longest hitters and the U.S. Open champion. McIlroy’s extra time spent on speed and power drills proved damaging, however.

Since golf’s return, McIlroy, who hasn’t won since the fall of 2019, has just six top-10s in 21 starts, missed the cut in the Masters and Players Championship, and fallen to No. 15 in the official world golf rankings, his lowest rank since 2009.

Thus, in March, the winner of 27 titles worldwide, including 18 on the PGA Tour, brought noted swing coach Pete Cowen on board while staying with longtime coach Michael Bannon to help him sort through issues.

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“I feel better about my game than I did flying home from Augusta on Friday night, put it that way,” McIlroy said Wednesday at Quail Hollow, home to the Wells Fargo Championship. “I’ve worked a little bit on it, sort of just tried to understand what I do well. I guess trying to sort of focus on my strengths.

“I think I’ve neglected my strengths a little bit the past couple of months and focusing more on those and focusing on what makes me a good golfer and how I swing the club and how I move the club. It’s just understanding my move a little bit more. So that’s sort of what I’ve been trying to do the last couple weeks.

“It feels good. It’s all familiar feelings.”

McIlroy is in a great spot to end his winless stretch. He won his first PGA Tour title in the 2010 Wells Fargo Championship and became the only two-time winner of the event in 2015, when he shot 61-69 on the weekend to win by seven shots. He also lost in a playoff in 2012 and has seven top-10s overall in nine starts.

“I’ve always liked coming back to Charlotte,” McIlroy said. “Hopefully that gives me a little bit of good mojo going into the week.”

Because of COVID-19 travel restrictions, McIlroy wasn’t able to spend enough time with Bannon, who is based in Northern Ireland, and when they did meet up, they rushed through practice sessions and worked on too many things.

Cowen is in the U.S. on a regular basis.

“Bringing Pete into the equation is a change, but it’s a familiar one,” McIlroy said. “It’s not as if it’s the first time Pete and I have really worked together. I’ve known Pete for a long, long time. But again, it’s just getting a slight, different opinion. Just getting someone’s opinion from the outside looking in can be a good thing. That’s really what Pete has been.

“I keep using this word ‘understanding,’ but it really is just me trying to understand my swing better and understand what I do well and focusing on that. My body movement and how I turn through the ball is probably one of my biggest attributes and neglected that a little bit by focusing on some other stuff.”

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Watch: Rory McIlroy drubbed by Ian Poulter at WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play

Just days after a report surfaced that he’d added coach Pete Cowen to his team, McIlroy looked out of sorts again at Austin Country Club.

AUSTIN, Texas — Standing on the 12th tee with a picturesque view of the iconic Pennybacker Bridge, Ian Poulter watched his drive safely hit the fairway, flipped his driver, grinned and let out a giggle.

Why wouldn’t the typically jovial Poulter be beaming? He stood 3 up in his opening match of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event, in firm control despite coming into Wednesday as a decided underdog.

His opponent, World No. 11 Rory McIlroy, wasn’t sharing Poulter’s chipper disposition.

Just days after a report that he’d added coach Pete Cowen to his team in an effort to right a struggling ship, McIlroy looked out of sorts again at Austin Country Club.

Despite booming drives that consistently rolled well past Poulter’s, McIlroy fell 6 and 5 in an uninspiring showing that put him in a tough spot with two round-robin matches remaining.

For McIlroy, it’s been a roller coaster of sorts through the past few months. The former World No. 1 isn’t in a slump, per se, but he certainly isn’t in complete control of his game like he once was. McIlroy has four top 20 finishes in six starts this season, but he’s missed a pair of cuts, the most recent at the Players Championship. He also posted a final-round 76 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational while firmly in the hunt.

And he continued his erratic play through the early portion of Wednesday’s round, first three-putting from inside 20 feet on the fourth hole, then finding water in the most unconventional way on the following hole — by bouncing a tee shot off a cart path and into a swimming pool.

Poulter said he expects McIlroy to improve under Cowen’s eye, but he was happy to apply some pressure to his friend and earn the victory.

“Obviously, Pete’s going to be working exclusively with Rory on his game. I think there’s a couple of areas of his game which I’m sure he wants to kind of firm up a little bit and obviously, he missed a couple of tee shots left. From that point, he was trying to hit a kind of a bit of a hold-up cut,” Poulter said of his friend. “But it’s Rory, it doesn’t take a lot for Rory to spark up pretty quickly and I wasn’t surprised with anything, I just felt that I kind of, I had done a pretty decent job of putting him under pressure, I made it difficult for him.”

Meanwhile, Poulter arrived in Austin fresh off missing two straight cuts and without a top 25 finish this season. The 60th seed looked confident, however, as he took advantage of all McIlroy’s early mistakes.

“I played well and obviously the score line’s pretty flattering, to be honest with you. But I kept Rory under pressure and I made it difficult for him,” Poulter said. “Yeah, he hit a couple of loose shots, but putting the ball in pretty tight and taking control of a match, I had to do that against Rory.”

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Report: Rory McIlroy has formally begun work with new swing coach Pete Cowen

With the Masters two weeks away, Rory McIlroy has reportedly begun work with a new instructor.

With the Masters two weeks away, Rory McIlroy has reportedly begun work with a new instructor. According to ESPN, McIlroy is now working with Pete Cowen, a longtime instructor who has worked with such notables as Brooks Koepka, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood.

McIlroy’s agent Sean O’Flaherty confirmed the news in a text message to ESPN that read simply, “Pete is an addition to Rory’s performance team.”

The world No. 11 most recently missed the cut at the Players Championship, later admitting to getting sucked into the chase for distance.

“I’m looking forward to (getting home),” McIlroy said at the Players after teeing it up four consecutive weeks and seven of the last eight. “I don’t want to say it’s been a long four weeks, but it’s funny. I used to think four weeks in a row was nothing, and then I feel like I’m getting old because by the fourth week I’m like, a little achy, a couple things are hurting, so I’m looking forward to getting home.

“That’s not the reason I didn’t play very well this week, but yeah, it’s felt like a long four weeks.”

His best finish in 10 starts in 2021 was a T5 at the Masters in November. He has not won on the PGA Tour since the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in November 2019.

McIlroy, who became a father in September when daughter Poppy was born, previously worked with instructor Michael Bannon, a relationship that began when McIlroy was just a kid.

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Brooks Koepka on putter going cold: ‘I’ve got 36 holes to go, man. I ain’t worried’

Brooks Koepka shot 1 over Friday, but he isn’t worried about slipping too far down the leaderboard at the WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – For Brooks Koepka, the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational has been a tale of two putting rounds.

On Thursday, the hole looked as big as a basketball hoop and he took just 26 putts en route to shooting 62. But on Friday, the hole must have looked like a thimble as Koepka took 34 swipes and shot 1-over 71 at TPC Southwind. He’s in a three-way tie for third at 7-under-par 133 and trails 36-hole leader Brendon Todd by four strokes.

“I just putted badly,” Koepka said. “It wasn’t really anything other than that.”

The Strokes Gained: putting stat backed up his words as Koepka lost more than four strokes to the field and ranked dead last in the category.

Koepka was skating along just fine early in his morning round, hitting his first 10 greens in regulation and rolling in a birdie putt at No. 11, his second hole of the day. He held the lead at 9 under when his round unraveled at the short, par-4 second hole.

After driving into the left fairway bunker and coming up short of the green, Koepka wedged to 3 feet, 3 inches. That’s when his putter woes struck. Three putts later, he walked off the green with a double bogey, his lead was gone and he was reeling.

“I think it caught a little bit of the bottom lip, I’m not sure. And then the next one, I think it just caught the top lip,” he said.

Koepka switched putting coaches on Wednesday, and despite his struggles on the green, he said he stuck with the new technique that putting guru Phil Kenyon prescribed.

“I felt like I did everything we were trying to do, just wasn’t working, wasn’t seeing the line,” he said. “Even yesterday I said I didn’t feel quite comfortable over anything inside five feet and today it just felt kind of the same.”

After the round, Koepka returned to the practice-putting green and worked with Kenyon some more.

While the putter continuing to plague him, Koepka was pleased with his improved ballstriking since spending time with instructor Pete Cowen. Koepka leads the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-green and hit 15 greens in regulation, one more than he did yesterday when he shot 62. Most importantly, his confidence in his game remains intact.

“I’ve got 36 holes to go, man,” he said. “I ain’t worried.”

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Update: Instructor Pete Cowen ‘recovering’ after battle with coronavirus

Pete Cowen has worked with Brooks Koepka, Gary Woodland, Henrik Stenson and Graeme McDowell, and he’s improving after battling COVID-19.

Golf instructor Pete Cowen appears to be on the road to recovery after battling the coronavirus.

The 69-year-old Cowen — who has worked with a bevy of professional golfers, including Brooks Koepka, Gary Woodland, Henrik Stenson and Graeme McDowell — announced two weeks ago that he thought he was battling the virus.

Cowen told The Daily Telegraph that the virus had sapped him of much of his strength.

“You really don’t want this,” Cowen told the paper back on March 22. “I’m feeling horrendous and wouldn’t wish this on anyone; no matter how young and fit they may be.

” … it felt like my whole body was shutting down and I said to my wife I think I’ve only got 10 percent body strength left to fight this.”

But a message on the Pete Cowen Golf Academy social media accounts on Tuesday indicated that the famed teacher was vastly improved.

The note, which came from academy manager Nick Huby went on to say:

“I’m delighted to announce that Pete is most definitely recovering and improving day by day slowly building his strength back up.

I am confident Pete will be able to get right back to the business of improving people’s golf very soon.

Peter and his family would like to thank everyone for all the kind, supportive messages and well wishes they have received.”

Among those worried about Cowen’s well-being was Woodland, who said the following to Golfweek via text:

“My thoughts and prayers are with him and everyone during this time. My family and I are at home feeling great trying to entertain three kids under 3. We are healthy and have no symptoms.”

Lee Westwood of England with his coach Pete Cowen during a practice session at the Worksop Golf Club in England.

According to an earlier article in Golfweek, Cowen coached Lee Westwood to World No. 1 in October 2010, ending the 281-week reign of Tiger Woods, and rebuilt Henrik Stenson’s swing, which led to victory at the 2016 British Open. Cowen attended the Honda Classic last month, where rookie sensation Viktor Hovland asked for help on his short game, as well as the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he spent time with Koepka, and the Players Championship in March, where he worked with Woodland before the event was canceled.

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Report: Instructor Pete Cowen believes he has coronavirus, says, ‘You really don’t want this’

Cowen told The Daily Telegraph that he has “all the symptoms” and “you really don’t want this.”

Golf instructor Pete Cowen believes he may be suffering from the coronavirus.

That is according to a story in The Daily Telegraph, though Cowen notes he hasn’t been tested. In the story, he expressed surprise that he hasn’t been tested given his age, 69, and despite having many of the symptoms.

“You really don’t want this,” Cowen said. “I’m feeling horrendous and wouldn’t wish this on anyone; no matter how young and fit they may be.”

Cowen was once tabbed “the best instructor nobody knows” by one golf publication and he has helped eight different golfers win majors, including Brooks Koepka (U.S. Open and PGA Championships) and Gary Woodland (U.S. Open) most recently.

“If there is such a thing, he might be the best teacher,” golf instructor Bill Harmon said of Cowen in a 2017 New York Times article.

Cowen coached Lee Westwood to World No. 1 in October 2010, ending the 281-week reign of Tiger Woods, and rebuilt Henrik Stenson’s swing, which led to victory at the 2016 British Open. Cowen attended the Honda Classic last month, where rookie sensation Viktor Hovland asked for help on his short game, as well as the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he spent time with Koepka, and the Players Championship in March, where he worked with Woodland before the event was canceled.

“I’ve talked to Pete over the last couple days and he’s said he thinks he has the virus and has been in isolation feeling horrible,” Woodland told Golfweek in a text. “My thoughts and prayers are with him and everyone during this time. My family and I are at home feeling great trying to entertain three kids under 3. We are healthy and have no symptoms.”

Steve DiMeglio contributed to this story.