Golf coach to the stars Pete Cowen has forecasted LIV 's rebel players will find themselves in the rough at this year's Masters Tournament.
Some of the PGA Tour's biggest names infamously cut ties with the sport's establishment last year to join LIV Golf at the promise of bigger prizes for fewer commitments around the calendar. However, it's that very lack of activity that Cowen believes could come back to bite the likes of Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson.
The former European Tour player has particularly intimate knowledge of Koepka's game considering Cowen has long coached the American around his short game. Koepka's prospects in Georgia appear low given his battles with a major knee issue in recent years, but it's Cowen's belief the LIV contingent in general could struggle.
“I’m not optimistic about players who aren’t playing competitively on a regular basis,” Cowen told The Times ahead of golf's return to Augusta National. “It’s a big deal. Like any sport, if you’re not competitively sharp you struggle.”
Given the greater volume of events played on golf's established tours, The Times reported the most active PGA athletes will have played 'more than double' the number of rounds compared to their LIV counterparts come the Masters. There have also been concerns regarding the diluted competition and lack of a cue threat reducing standards among LIV players, but fans look certain to discover such answers at Augusta.
This year's Masters—which gets underway on April 6—will be the first major to take place since Saudi-funded LIV's presence on the golf circuit was fully fleshed out. Five-time winner Tiger Woods and titleholder Scottie Scheffler have each spoken about their uncertainty heading into the competition's 'Champions Dinner', which will include no fewer than six former winners now representing LIV.
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Cowen, 72, is something of a conduit across the two sides of golf's ongoing war, with PGA loyalist Thomas Pieters currently among his clients, in addition to Koepka. The Englishman has worked with a long list of celebrity talent in the sport down the years and counts the likes of Rory McIroy, Padraig Harrington and Henrik Stenson among his former charges.
While LIV's mass poaching has been widely framed as a money grab for its competitors, however, Cowen assured finances are a key motivator regardless of where one sits on the divide. According to him, selfishness in golf is not only commonplace in golf, but a requirement of those who wish to reach the pinnacle.
“Whether they say they do or not, they all play for money,” added the Yorkshireman. “They are selfish and they have to be to be very good players. Ask Rory how much appearance money he gets a year. They all need to get round a table because if someone is investing billions into my sport I’d be saying, ‘How can I accommodate you?’”
Koepka, 32, finished tied for second and seventh at the Masters in 2019 and 2020, respectively, but has since missed the cut in back-to-back appearances. Making the weekend's action would be an improvement for the Floridian in that regard, but he may not be the only LIV star who finds himself in the wilderness next month.
