Gregg Williams took the lead in the TEG 19 Green Jacket at the third hole of the opening round at Quinta da Ria, and the gross standings never changed hands again. He finished at +58, 346 strokes, twelve clear of Jon Baker on +70, and that is the lowest gross aggregate of his TEG career.

Serenity did not come into it. The third round took him apart through the middle. After a bogey at the par-five 8th he ran up a triple at the short 9th, then three straight double bogeys at the 10th, 11th and 12th. Nine shots gone in four holes, not a net par among them, five points short of his handicap allowance over that stretch. Dreadful golf, and from the man in front. A birdie at the 13th ended it, and the lead survived.

The final round was altogether calmer. Three pars in a row at the 4th, 5th and 6th brought him nine Stableford points, and he closed with a par at the 17th, stroke index 3, and a birdie at the water-guarded par-five 18th, a hole that invites the second shot and then punishes it. That gave him 83, his best of the three rounds at Monte Rei, and a lovely way to finish.

In the Trophy he was second on 155.

John Patterson took the TEG 19 Wooden Spoon with 123 points, seven behind David Mullin. Last place moved about a good deal before it settled. Patterson dropped to the bottom at the third hole of Round 1, Mullin took it over at the 10th, Patterson reclaimed it at the 14th, Mullin had it again at the second hole of Round 2, and then Patterson went back to last at the ninth that afternoon and never left.

He got there with some very large single numbers. At Quinta da Ria he made nines at the 7th and the 14th, both par fours. In Round 2 at Monte Rei he took ten at the par-five 6th, leaked twelve shots across holes 11 to 15, and signed off with another ten at the par-five 18th for a round of 25 points. Two tens and a five-hole haemorrhage in the same round is a lot to absorb.

Round 3 was genuinely better. A birdie at the 10th ended a long run of bogeys or worse, and 36 points was an eleven-point improvement, with a gross 97, his lowest of the three rounds there. It only delayed matters. In Round 4 he was eleven over par after four holes, including a nine at the 2nd, and then came that ten at the 7th, seven over and the worst hole against par of his career. He gathered three points apiece at the 11th, 12th and 13th, then dropped nine shots from the 15th.

The defending Trophy champion began in credit. At Quinta da Ria he took 13 points from holes 3 to 6, a bogey, a bogey, a par and another bogey, and that stretch carried him to the outright lead at the fifth. He was top again after the 17th, before Jon Baker took it back at the last.

Then came Monte Rei, which gave the field almost nothing all trip. Round 2 carried the ten at the 7th. He rallied for nine points across 12 to 14, which took some doing with that number sitting on the card, but it still closed at 29 points and a gross 114.

Round 3 brought a fresh calamity at a different hole: another 10, this time a quintuple bogey at the par-five 2nd. What he did next was the turnaround of his tournament. Thirteen points from holes 6 to 9, par, bogey, bogey, par, and a round of 43 points, fourteen better than the day before. His gross came down to 98, sixteen strokes inside Round 2, and he had every right to walk off looking insufferably pleased.

Round 4 offered a quieter version of the same control: back-to-back pars at 13 and 14 without a gross shot dropped.

He finished third in the Trophy on 143, and shared the foot of the Green Jacket with John Patterson, 132 over par.

The 7th is a par three on the card and very little like one on the ground: over 230 yards from the back tee, a narrow channel of fairway running up to the green, deep hollows either side waiting for anything that misses. Across the three rounds played there it produced two tens.

The first was Alex Baker's in Round 2. Ten shots, a septuple bogey, no Stableford points, and the worst he has ever made on a par three. It was also the hole where Gregg Williams took the outright Trophy lead off Jon Baker, which will not have improved the walk to the 8th tee.

John Patterson matched it precisely in Round 4: ten again, seven over, nothing on the card, and his worst on a par three too. He at least had company. David Mullin took six there, the middle hole of a stretch from the 6th to the 8th without a single net par. Jon Baker's five was the first instalment of those three straight doubles.

Two tens at one par three, and the two men who made them finished the TEG 19 Green Jacket level on 420 strokes.