Not a Dull Moment From Four-Ball Quarterfinalist

The odds are so astronomical that even the best Las Vegas handicapper would have trouble coming up with a number. One against two in a golf match? Even the best player on the planet, Scottie Scheffler, would require a Herculean effort beating the best ball from two fellow PGA Tour pros.

In the short 10-year history of the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship – and the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball – no solo side had managed to advance into match play. And certainly no solo side had ever won a match.

Marc Dull changed that narrative Tuesday at Plainfield Country Club. Amazingly, the 39-year-old from Lakeland, Fla., wound up making history in the Round of 16 with a remarkable victory and then nearly pulling off another in the quarterfinals.

Because his longtime partner, Chip Brooke, had to fly back to Florida Monday night to attend his youngest daughter’s high school graduation, the 2015 U.S. Mid-Amateur runner-up was thrust into the difficult task of playing alone. But Dull was up to the challenge, playing 2-under-par golf in defeating John Ramsey and Chadd Slutzky, 2 and 1, before battling Maryland residents Hunter Powell and Carson Looney all the way to 18 in the afternoon quarters before dropping a heartbreaking 1-down decision.

Dull, a former Streamsong Resort caddie who now operates a landscaping business, delivered one remarkable shot after another in the afternoon quarterfinals, including an eagle 2 on the par-4 10th hole when he holed out from 132 yards with a wedge from a divot in the fairway. On the 16th hole, he drained a 25-foot, left-to-right, downhill birdie putt to tie the match. But on the 313-yard closing hole – the tees were moved up to make No. 18 driveable – Dull found a greenside bunker and took two shots to reach the green. He then missed his 15-footer for par, with Powell sitting 3 feet for birdie.

Four-ball Rules don’t prevent someone from playing as a solo side, however, it’s virtually impossible to succeed when a two-person side gets two chances on every hole.

In last year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball, in San Antonio, Texas, Haeri Lee, played solo in the Round of 32 when her partner, Lisa Copeland, had to step away from the competition to take an Advanced-Placement exam. Lee conceded the match after being 6 down after 10 holes.

“[Chip was] like, you're going to have to play the second-round match by yourself, do you still want to do it?” said Dull between matches on Tuesday. “I'm like, ‘Yeah, let's do it, why not.’ If we get there, we'll just cross that bridge. My game was getting better as the week went on so I felt confident that I could shoot under par out here on my own ball. I knew it was going to be a strong task, but just trying to make no mistakes. I wasn't super patient, just trying to make sure they made birdies to beat me. And I made a few putts today.”

Had Dull won his quarterfinal match, Brooke, a former caddie master at Streamsong who now operates a roofing company, was planning to fly back from Orlando for Wednesday’s semifinals. The two met at Streamsong when Dull started caddieing there in 2013, and five years later, they reached the championship match of this championship at Jupiter Hills Club, in Tequesta, Fla. A year earlier, they reached the semifinals in Pinehurst.

Dull has long been one of the top players in the Sunshine State, earning Florida State Golf Association Amateur Player of the Year in 2003 and 2017. In 2023, he won the Florida Amateur, and captured the Florida Mid-Amateur in 2018.

“I mean, for him to win his first match, which has never been done by just one golfer in a four-ball match and then for him to come out, repeat it, and not only repeat it, but to play better is one of the most absurd things I've ever seen,” said Powell. ”And we told him when we shook hands on 18 that he was the best golfer that we've ever seen in person.”

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.