David Mullin stayed on top of the TEG 10 Trophy after the second round at Palmares, with 42 points and a slightly smaller cushion. Eight became five. From the 4th to the 8th he took maximum points on every hole, fifteen in five, the golf of a man who had stopped considering alternatives. The 9th disagreed. A double bogey there, on a par 5 rated third-hardest on the card, ended the sequence without ceremony. He also held the Green Jacket lead, trimmed from fourteen to thirteen.

The day's best individual round belonged to Alex Baker, who returned a personal-best 45 points and a personal-best gross round of +23, built on stretches of nine and ten points either side of the turn. Two career bests in one afternoon. It was not enough to trouble Mullin, which tells you something about the afternoon Mullin was having.

At the other end, John Patterson's round ended at the 1st. Not literally, but in every sense that mattered. A sextuple-bogey 10 on one of the harder holes on the course, before anyone had settled. He then played seventeen further holes, which was generous of him. The gap to the next man at the bottom of the Wooden Spoon table grew from three points to five.

Stuart Neumann's second round at Palmares Praia/Alvor, his first visit to the course, was a study in contrasts. He opened calmly. Pars at the 4th and 5th, nothing dropped, no hint of what was coming. From the 9th to the 12th he gathered 14 stableford points, capped by back-to-back pars at the 11th and 12th. At that point he looked like a man in control of his own afternoon.

The back nine then fell apart. A quintuple bogey 10 at the 13th was followed immediately by another quintuple bogey, a 9 at the 14th. The 14th is the easiest hole on the course by stroke index. It offered him nothing and he took five more than that. A triple bogey 7 at the 15th completed three holes without a single net par, 13 shots gone in the time it takes to lose interest.

No recovery arrived. He closed with a sextuple bogey 10 at the 18th, one of the hardest holes on the course, and his worst hole against par anywhere in the TEG so far. The course had given him a gentle opening and a promising middle. It then took everything back, with interest, and left him to sign for it.

Jon Baker shot a gross 82 in round 2 at Palmares Praia/Alvor. Ten over par, and the best gross score anywhere in the field of six that day. It stands as the third-best gross round in TEG history to date. It is also the best of his own 33 rounds, which is a long time to wait for something.

The start was orderly. A birdie at the par-5 2nd, pars either side of it, no sign of trouble. Then a double bogey at the par-5 4th, the hardest hole on the course, which ended the sequence and briefly the mood. Baker's response was six straight pars from the 5th through the 10th. The stretch also delivered 18 stableford points without a dropped gross shot.

The wider picture declined to notice. David Mullin remained clear at the top of the 2017 TEG Trophy and the Green Jacket standings. John Patterson remained anchored to the bottom of the Wooden Spoon table, where he was making himself comfortable.