2 person scramble, with a single?

A group of 12 of us have our annual 2 person scramble today, but 1 just went home from work ill. That one, happens to be the highest handicap (30), and is paired with the lowest/league medalist (12). How do we make today's match fair now? Obviously, the player that isn't going to be there, wasn't going to contribute that many strokes, and we can't just give the #1 player two shots on every ball.

Thoughts?

Just spit balling here:

1.  Give the solo guy 2 shots starting with his 2nd or 3rd stroke on each hole.

2.  Reorganize the groups-

a.  Making some threesomes and others two man teams depending on quality of players.

b.  Make a mid level player the solo and give him two shots everywhere.

3.  Make it a 1 man scramble with each player getting 2 shots

a. everywhere with redueced handicpas

b. a limited amount of the time with higher cappers getting to play more 2nd shots

c. with the caveat that you MUST play the 2nd ball if you choose to play one (and reduced handicaps)

you could also try to find a last minute fill in

Thank you mefree, the fill in is our first choice, we've all been asking around and are optimistic for that to happen.

I also like two of the options you came up with. Re organize with middle guy being single, or have the #1 guy play 2 shots, just not off tee, and I think probably not on green either.

I think taking away the tee ball, but giving 2 putts is likely to result in a closer comp rather than taking away the 2nd tee ball and 2nd putts.  Unless the sick guy was a really bad putter, then he was likely to contribute some on the greens (and even a 150 yard drive in the fairway is better than a 250 yard drive OB, so a bad golfer occasionally helps off the tee as well).

What have your scores been like in the past?  I don't think I have ever played a two man scramble, but I played a 1 person last summer and quite a few 4 person events the past few years.  These formats resulted in way lower scores even when there were some bad players on the team.  I think I won our 1 man scramble by a single stroke last year, but won the 2 round club championship by 16 shots against most of the same players.  My point is that mediocre players improve a lot in a scramble format especially if they hit the ball a decent distance, but are inconsistent.  Giving a 12 capper only a 2nd ball from the fairway isn't likely to make him competitive with a 14 & 25 capper who pair up well in a scramble format.