Alex Baker set a new course-worst at Praia D'El Rey in the opening round of TEG 16. A gross 114. The previous worst was 110, a mark that had survived 24 prior visits to the course. It was Baker's fifth visit. His previous best there was 100, meaning he found 14 strokes more than the last time he played it.

The bulk of the work was done between the 3rd and the 5th, where he dropped 13 shots and failed to record a single net par. The 5th is stroke index 2, one of the hardest holes on the course. It returned a sextuple-bogey 10. The 4th had already contributed a quadruple-bogey 8. He then closed with a quintuple-bogey 9 at the 18th, which had the air of a man signing his own work. Three holes accounted for 27 shots. The round stands as the highest gross score ever recorded at Praia D'El Rey.

Round one at Praia D'El Rey took its time settling. Jon Baker moved first, taking the outright TEG Trophy lead with a par at the 3rd. Holding the lead at the 3rd hole of a tournament is an honour of limited shelf life. John Patterson claimed it for keeps at the 16th and held it to the close. Patterson's round leaves him level with the field on Stableford at the top, with his best gross at the course now standing at 96.

In the TEG Green Jacket, Gregg Williams drew level for the lead with a par at the par-5 17th, the hardest hole on the course. He finished the day out in front. His 93 matches his best gross score around this course, which is either consistency or a ceiling.

At the other end of the field, Alex Baker's day ended as it had largely proceeded. The quintuple bogey at the 18th dropped him to the bottom of the Wooden Spoon standings after one round. He had spent the afternoon building the plinth. He simply stepped onto it.

David Mullin's opening round at Praia D'El Rey came in two clearly separated halves. The 4th was a double bogey. So were the 5th, the 6th and the 7th. The 8th, a par 3, took a triple. Eleven shots gone in five holes, delivered with the steadiness of a man clocking in for a shift. Three of those holes, from the 6th to the 8th, passed without a single net par.

The back nine reversed everything. From the 9th he found pars on two holes without dropping a shot. He then ran off three unblemished holes from the 12th to the 14th, capped by a birdie at the 13th. The form held to the 16th, and the stretch from the 12th was worth 16 Stableford points. The round finished on 33 points. It was 13 points stronger on the back nine than the front, which is less a round of golf than two men sharing a card. It also left him well short of his best gross at the course, eight shots worse than his last visit here.