Colin Montgomerie hit out at the “ridiculous” pace of play as Billy Horschel defeated Scottie Scheffler to win the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

In the third consecutive all-American final, Horschel recovered from an early deficit to beat Scheffler 2&1 in the final at Austin Country Club and secure the first prize of £1.3million.

The 34-year-old had earlier beaten France’s Victor Perez 3&2 in the semi-finals before Scheffler beat Matt Kuchar by one hole in a match which took four hours and eight minutes to complete in windy conditions.

The glacial pace of play was criticised and eight-time European number one Montgomerie wrote on Twitter: “100% agree. Pace of play is ridiculous.

“No one in front of them, Green reading books, lining up the lines on the ball, really annoys me. And Matchplay is the fastest form of golf. Something has to be done #slowplay.”

In response to an image of both players and their caddies consulting their yardage books, Montgomerie added: “All four have their yardage books out. They’ve played the hole with practice 9 times this week. Stood there for two minutes doing nothing! Slow play needs to be penalised.

Scheffler, who had plenty of crowd support as a native Texan, drew first blood in the final when Horschel bogeyed the second hole after pulling his drive into a ravine.

Horschel got back on level terms in style by chipping in for a birdie on the fifth and looked set to win the next following a wild drive by his opponent.

However, after taking a penalty drop away from a fence, Scheffler scrambled a par five and Horschel was unable to make a winning birdie after a poor approach.