2019, the US Open. Brooks Koepka is at Pebble Beach, hoping to achieve something unique, perhaps for the first time in history. He already has two Majors to his name, becoming the only sixth player in history to successfully defend his US Open title in 2018. Challenging his bold shot at a three-peat is college basketball player turned golfer Gary Woodland, eying his maiden major victory.

Eventually, on the 18th hole, Woodland’s 30-foot birdie putt outclasses Koepka’s looming drives as the four-time PGA Tour winner prevails over the reigning champion by three strokes. The LIV star’s dream of achieving a historical feat is shattered. Incidentally, Pete Cowen, who led then-World No. 1 to his first major victory in 2017, is now congratulating his current student, Woodland, on his maiden U.S. Open title. Speaking with Noah Lack for EssentiallySports, the legendary coach reveals that Brooks Koepka still remembers this vividly and taunts him for being on the opposing side.

Brooks Koepka was on the cusp of achieving a 114-year-old historical feat

The veteran coach recounts the time when he had to see his most prized student get battered at the hands of his current student. He was coaching Gary Woodland full-time. And as fate would have it, in the final round, it boiled down between Brooks Koepka and Gary Woodland. The result went in the Kansas native’s favor, shocking everyone. “Gary Woodland beats Brooks by a couple of shots,” the veteran coach says in an exclusive interview with EssentiallySports.

However, Cowen did come back to Koepka after the US Open defeat, this time mainly focusing on his short game. But the 33-year-old didn’t forget to remind him of the time when he helped his competitor win. As the coach reveals, “Brooks always says to me, you cost me [my third US Open title].”

It’s natural for anyone to lament their major loss. And when you’re chasing history, it stings more. Even now, the LIV Golf pro jokingly tells his former coach, “I would have won three tournaments in a row. That would have been unique,” as the British coach reveals in the EssentiallySports Fancast.

Indeed, it would have been a historical feat for the former World No. 1. Only one golfer has the record of winning three back-to-back US Opens in a row. Willie Anderson did it way back in 1905 when he captured his third consecutive US Open title at Myopia. Had Koepka clinched a win at Pebble Beach in 2019, he would have become the only second golfer to do a three-peat after 114 years.

Read More: ‘Head to Head’: Pete Cowen Makes a Bold Brooks Koepka Verdict on Rory McIlroy’s Devastating Major Drought

Anyone who knows Koepka knows how much the Jupiter native loves to win in majors. His frustration is not at all surprising. Neither is his banter with the former coach. “So he blames me for helping Gary,” says the British coach with a slight chuckle in the EssentaillySports Exclusive chat. But the 33-year-old golfer should take solace in the fact that his second-place finish in the 2019 US Open still makes him the best performer among the seven who tried their hand at three-peat.

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