A player and opponent are not allowed to agree to concede holes to each other for the purpose of shortening the match. If they do so knowing this is not allowed, they are disqualified. (3.2b(1))
This becomes an interesting question if the purpose is not about shortening the match. For example, if the players skip a few holes because of a logjam of slow groups but return to them after completing the 18th - ie still play the full complement but not in correct order. The USGA has advised there is no answer in the Rules to what to do if holes in match play are played out of order - it is entirely up to the Committee to decide what to do.
I think you miss my point. There are some circumstances when the actual result does matter - not just who wins and who loses.
But not in your circumstance presumably. So who cares?
Did it myself in an earlier round of the same comp as yesterday. I had fought back from 4 dwn to be 1dwn playing the last. My opponent had a putt to half the hole and so win the match. It was 18" (maybe even a tad less). I did not concede it. He horseshoed out. I won up the 1st extra hole.
The point is that any rule must surely be written to cover as many scenarios as possible, otherwise if there were variants of a relatively simple rule, there could be endless confusion over what variant of a rule is applicable to any specific scenario. In my situation yesterday, what I did indeed have no wider impact - but in other scenarios it could have or indeed would have.
For arguments sake - let's say my opponent had picked up his marker but before he said a word (either explicitly or implicitly accepting that he'd lost the hole) I told him that he had a shot. The fact is that I have won the hole as he has picked up his marker and not holed out or had his putt conceded by me. But could I have let him replace his marker at no penalty for him to putt for a half.
Are we talking at crossed purposes here? I never said the rule was silly or shouldn't exist or whatever. (Although I do often say things like that.
) Just that in your scenario you could have ignored it anyway and if nobody knows other than you and the opponent then it does no harm. 
If players agree to waive a Rule they know applies, or fail to apply a penalty they know applies, both players are disqualified. Players are expected to act with integrity.Are we talking at crossed purposes here? I never said the rule was silly or shouldn't exist or whatever. (Although I do often say things like that.
He picked up his ball marker, it's a breach of Rule 9.7 and a penalty applies. See post above about integrity.
If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to hear, does it make a sound?
You can indeed ignore your opponent's breach of a rule provided he is unaware that he has breached it. If you both knowingly ignore it, you can both be penalised by DQ for doing so. It's obviously not a matter of protecting a field, but think of it as protecting the integrity of the game of golf.
That's hilarious. How do I know if he's unaware or not? I can't ask him because then he'll definitely be aware! It's Schrödinger's golf ruling.
If the actual result of a match goes towards the final standings in a table then a match that should have finished, say, 6&5 but due to leniency on part of the winner instead finished 4&3, that difference in the result could find the loser winning the league by a margin of 1hole from the team/player that finds itself in 2nd.
Don't over-complicate matters. If he says nothing he is, as far as you are concerned, unaware. You then have a choice of saying nothing, telling him with the intention that a penalty is applied or telling him of the breach but also that you are ignoring it.That's hilarious. How do I know if he's unaware or not? I can't ask him because then he'll definitely be aware! It's Schrödinger's golf ruling.
You also get to test or show your own integrity, and have to live with it (or without it).
Yes. This is the substance of the new 3.2d(4)/1. See the first bullet point which gets precisely to this issue. Rulie's post #51 is not correct if you decide to just tell the player that he has made an error but you are not imposing the penalty - in this case, the player must replace the ball and the hole continues.
