‘Surprised’ Scottie Scheffler critical of unfair decision made by Masters officials

Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images

Scottie Scheffler lost out to Rory McIlroy by just one shot at the 90th edition of The Masters.

Scheffler trailed McIlroy by 12 shots at the halfway stage of The Masters but fought back with rounds of 65 and 68 over the weekend at Augusta National.

It was his second round of 74 that killed his chances of winning a third green jacket in the end.

Scheffler looked much like his old self on Saturday and Sunday at The Masters.

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

However, he will now be lamenting his sloppy second round at Augusta National.

Scheffler cut a frustrated figure at The Masters at times this week, but the fact that he finished second, just one shot away from a playoff, and without his ‘A’ game, tells us everything we need to know about his quality.

Scottie Scheffler critical of unfair decision made by Masters officials

Scheffler posted a 70 in seriously tough conditions on Thursday afternoon.

However, when the afternoon wave went out on Friday they were presented with a fairly soft and receptive golf course.

Scheffler believes that was unfair.

He spoke to reporters after his final round at Augusta and responded when asked if he was happy with the course setup throughout the week.

“I mean, I’m not in charge of course setup,“ Scheffler started off by saying.

Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images

*“*I would have liked it to have been a little bit more equal in terms of the firmness on Thursday and Friday.

*“*I was a bit surprised at how soft things were on Friday afternoon, especially as it got late in the day. But the weather also changes and it was a bit windy on Thursday, so who knows.

*“*That’s part of the game. We play an outdoor sport and you don’t know how conditions are going to change, especially course conditions.

“Overall, like I said, Friday for me going out early not being able to shoot an under-par round definitely hurt my chances. I think I started the weekend maybe 12 back, so to get within one was a pretty good run.“

Friday hurt Scottie Scheffler’s Masters chances

Scheffler was asked by reporters whether he was frustrated that he missed out by just one stroke.

“Yeah, I’d say Friday probably hurt the most in terms of my chances of winning,“ he said.

*“*We went out on Thursday, Thursday afternoon were some of the most challenging conditions we had all week.

*“*I didn’t see many birdies out there Thursday afternoon, so going out on Friday, whatever they did to the greens to soften them up, they did some stuff, and I just wasn’t able to take advantage of that going on early on Friday.

*“*And then you saw the barrage of birdies that Rory made and Cam Young and a bunch of guys made on Friday late in the day, and I think I finished maybe 2-over par on Friday. So that day probably hurt the most in terms of my chances to win.

“Overall, over the course of the weekend, I did some pretty nice stuff to give myself a chance.“