The nerve of this guy! First, he leaves his partner in the lurch by being late for their four-ball match. Then, as he shows up halfway into the hole, he starts to guide his partner as if he’s his caddie. He’s cleaning clubs, giving advice, and then he reads the putt correctly that led to his partner winning the hole without him!
You thought if a player has to go it alone in a four-ball match because his partner is a no-show, that late-arriving golfer can’t become part of the match until the next hole begins.
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Well, actually, that’s not the case.
Rule 23.4 covers this situation: “An arriving partner who is not allowed to play on a hole may still give advice or help to the other partner and take other actions for the other partner on that hole.”
It’s an interesting wrinkle. Although the other side just lost one of their two potential scores that could have won or halved the first hole with that player’s late arrival, having a defacto caddie could come in handy.
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Remember, it’s not necessary for both partners to be present for any or all of a match. At the 2025 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, the team of Chip Brooke and Marc Dull won their first-round match, but Brooke had to leave to attend his daughter’s high-school graduation. Dull played on and won the Round of 16 match by himself (but then lost in the quarterfinals). Had Dull won again on his own, Brooke had planned to be back for the semifinal match and that would have been fine to do so under the Rules of Golf.
The two-on-one scenario often plays out when a partner gets injured, but just because that player can’t swing, it doesn’t mean they can’t read putts or find potentially lost golf balls.
Keep in mind that if your sidelined partner does anything to violate the Rules of Golf, you are responsible for his or her actions. An example would be standing behind you on your line of putt as you make the stroke.
You might wonder what is considered “late” in a four-ball match? What would prevent your partner from sprinting from the parking lot just to take part in the opening hole of the competition?
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According to Rule 23.4, you or your partner are late if any player in a match-play competition tees off. That means you’re out until the start of the second hole. In four-ball stroke play, you’re late if your partner has started play of the hole.
The other thing to consider is handicap allocation in a missing-man situation. Rule 23.1/4 covers this: “If the player with the lowest handicap is unable to play, the absent player is not disregarded given that they may start play for the side between the play of two holes, which in match play means only before any player on either side has started play of a hole. The handicap strokes are calculated as if all four players are present.”In short, if any of the three remaining players were getting strokes on the first hole of the match, it doesn’t matter if the low-handicap player isn’t competing to start the match. The strokes are still allocated.
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