Scottie Scheffler has spoken out after being slammed for his actions during Rory McIlroy’s indoor Masters ceremony. The golf star was tasked with putting the green jacket on his rival, but appeared to quickly flee the scene rather than congratulate the new victor.

McIlroy completed a career grand slam on Sunday with his success at Augusta, breaking down in tears on the green after managing to get the better of Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff.

The 35-year-old could not contain his joy when finally getting his hands on a green jacket, with last year’s winner Scheffler passing it on. However, fans were quick to question the 28-year-old’s behaviour during the ceremony.

During the indoor ceremony, Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley asked Scheffler to present McIlroy with his green jacket, the world No. 1 then placed the jacket around the world No. 2, who thanked him.

Ridley then shook the hand of McIlroy and congratulated him on his success, just moments after Scheffler was seen creeping out of shot, with fans slamming the 2024 winner as ‘classless’ as a result.

However, Scheffler has now spoken out on his decision to move away, explaining that he did not want to cause any ‘embarassment’ by being too involved in the congratulatory moments. He explained: “It was such an emotional day for him. I kind of just tried to stay out of the way and basically just get the jacket on without embarrassing him or myself.

“I got to watch the whole celebration. I watched the finish and it was really cool for me to be able to see because I don't have the understanding of what it's like to be asked about the career Grand Slam, but I have like a small understanding of what it's like to be asked like, 'Hey you've accomplished this but you haven't accomplished that,' and it can be very taxing on people sometimes. So it was cool to be able to see Rory get the job done.

“Definitely, from the outside, it looked a bit more like relief than anything, because Rory has accomplished everything in the game of golf and that was really the last thing for him to accomplish. The guy has won FedEx Cups, he won the Players, now he’s won all four majors, maybe the only other thing is the Olympics that he’d want to win. So for him, it was really cool for me in that moment, he’s a good friend of mine, to be able to congratulate him, just to see the joy in him and his family was really cool.”