Round one at Boavista Golf & Spa Resort, on the group's fourth visit to the course, produced a new course record. David Mullin carded a gross 88, beating the previous mark of 89 and improving on his own prior best at the course. His +17 gross stands as the best gross round in TEG history to date. His net -1 ranks as the third-best round in TEG history to date. The record book was rewritten twice in one afternoon, and nobody asked its permission.

It put Mullin in front for the 2010 TEG Green Jacket after the first round. Jon Baker took the lead in the 2010 TEG Trophy, level with the field on net score.

At the other end, Henry Meller unravelled. Bogeys from the 9th through the 13th, then a double bogey at the 14th. A birdie at the 16th suggested a man recovering his composure. It was a misdirection. At the par-4 17th, one of the easiest holes on the course, he took 12. It was the worst hole of his round and the worst hole of the tournament relative to par. The 17th asked very little of him. He gave it everything. It dropped him to the bottom of the 2010 TEG Wooden Spoon race.

Gregg Williams's opening round at Boavista Golf & Spa Resort was already under strain by the turn. Between the 8th and the 10th he dropped seven shots in three holes. A double bogey on the par-5 8th. Another double on the 9th, the easiest hole on the course. A triple on the 10th. A quadruple-bogey 7 followed at the short 6th, which he will not wish to revisit.

But the round did not truly unravel until the finish. From the 15th, the hardest hole on the course, through to the 18th, Williams produced four bogeys of escalating severity: triple, triple, triple and a closing quadruple. Thirteen shots gone in four holes. Not one net par among them. Escalating is the precise word. He was building to something.

The middle of the round had promised a great deal. The finish buried it. He ended short of his own best score on the course, with nothing to show for the earlier work.