Justin Rose today blamed putting problems for his bitterly disappointing seven-over-par final total at the Masters.

Joint leader with Trevor Immelman after an opening 68, Rose, fifth last April, followed up with rounds of 78, 73 and 76.

A pitch into water that led to a triple-bogey eight at the 15th on Friday was the start of his slide, but he said: "Last year I putted great, but this year I struggled to read the greens.

"I started second-guessing the stroke and second-guessing the read. I lost a bit of confidence and it became tough.

"I'm just disappointed with the week overall. It was a weird week and I suppose it turned out to be the short game which let me down.

"The first couple of days I felt my long game was in good shape, but I didn't score well and as the week went on my short game didn't help me.

"I found it very difficult to grind this week once I slipped out of the tournament."

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