American pro Jason Kokrak has taken aim at the Masters after fans were held back from giving a fairytale send-off to Scottish veteran Sandy Lyle in his last-ever trip to Augusta.
Lyle, who took out the tournament in 1988, was not allowed to putt out on his final hole on Saturday after a fallen tree on the 17th tee.
Then on Sunday morning, when the horn sounded to resume play, fans were held back at the gate near the main leaderboard.
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As a result, the 65-year-old's final two putts were in front of approximately 50 people, some his family, with many fans too late to get to Lyle's hole even after gates were opened.
It was a decision from the tournament organisers that did not sit well with Kokrak.
"To not have the patrons let in at 8 o'clock to be around that green is damn near unforgivable," he told reporters in Augusta. "I think it's the most ridiculous thing."
"Yeah, we saw them sort of stacking up there by the scoreboard, and I thought, any minute now there's going to be a stampede," Lyle added.
"But, yeah, it would have been nice if probably a few more minutes and I could have — the crowd could have given me a good send-off."
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Kokrak's criticism came after he was vocal about Lyle not being allowed to continue playing after trees were uprooted on Saturday morning.
"And I think it's absolutely chicken shit that they wouldn't grant a special exemption because they weren't going to blow the horn except — I mean, I understand that there was a freak accident — trees going down," Kokrak said on Saturday.
"To not have a temporary exemption for something like that — I get that the lightning was in the area, but they weren't going to blow the horn for a few more minutes.
"So I think it's something that will be lost. I enjoyed my time with Sandy the last couple of days, and I think he should have been able to finish. Especially with the patrons around here.
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"That's what makes this place so great is the golf IQ of the patrons out here, or the fans that come out to Augusta. Because they knew what was going on and I think they wanted to see him make his last putt."
Brooks Koepka leads the Masters as we head into the the tail end of the tournament, with Jon Rahm and Sam Bennett rounding out the top three.
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