Alex Baker was 14 over par after four holes: those two nines, then a triple and a double. At the 7th, the longest and meanest par 3 out there, he signed for a 10, the worst he has made on a par 3 anywhere. Three more holes from the 9th cost him nine shots. Then, out of nowhere, bogey-bogey-par from the 12th for nine points in three holes, a spell of proper golf that deserved a far better home than this scorecard. A quadruple bogey at the 17th, one of the hardest holes here, ended the recovery. He finished with 29 points.

John Patterson had 25, the lowest in the field. A 10 at the 6th got him going, a triple at the 8th drew him level with David Mullin at the foot of the TEG 19 Wooden Spoon, and a double at the 9th left him down there on his own. Five holes from the 11th leaked 12 shots, and he closed with another 10 at the 18th, which is a bleak way to walk off any course. No leader changed all day. The gaps did: Jon Baker's Trophy lead stretched to five, and Patterson's Spoon margin went from nothing to nine.

Jon's 42 was the outlier. Everywhere else, the course's TEG debut was conducted in nines, eights and sevens, and all five players made a contribution.

Alex Baker got the worst of it before most people had settled: a quintuple-bogey 9 at the 1st and another 9 at the 2nd, which is a dreadful way to begin anything, followed much later by a quadruple-bogey 7 at the 11th. Jon Baker was not exempt, taking a 7 at the par-3 7th. David Mullin's trouble arrived in clusters. A 9 at the par-5 6th opened a run of three holes that cost him eight shots to par, and a second 9 turned up at the 16th.

Mullin did find an ending, though. Having gone a long stretch without beating a bogey, he bogeyed the 17th and then birdied the last, the short par 5 that bends round a lake. After the afternoon he had been having, a birdie was close to bad manners.