David Mullin had led the TEG 10 Trophy since hole 12 of Round 1. Thirty holes later, it was over. Alex Baker moved in front at the sixth hole of Round 3. Mullin drew level again at the 7th, briefly, and that was as close as he came to holding on.

The back nine turned choppy. A triple bogey at the 13th, a double at the 14th, and then a three-hole burst of 11 points: birdies at the 15th and the 17th around a par at the 16th. It was, for a few minutes, an act of genuine recovery. Then he played the last. A quadruple bogey 8 left him on 122 points, 11 behind Baker and Williams, who finished level at the top on 133.

Mullin's 31 was 11 down on his second-round 42, the sharpest swing of the day. Jon Baker also came in 10 points short of his previous round, which spared nobody's feelings. The Trophy lead is gone. Mullin still leads the TEG 10 Green Jacket, though the gap has narrowed from 13 strokes to 10. He remains in charge of something, which is more than most of the field can say.

John Patterson's third round at Palmares began in good order. Three straight pars, bogeys either side, 9 points banked from his first three holes. Even a quintuple bogey 10 on the par-5 8th, one of the harder holes on the course, looked survivable at that stage. It was the last thing that did.

From the 11th to the 15th, Patterson dropped 19 shots and did not make a single net par. The five holes yielded one stableford point. The 11th, among the toughest at Palmares, took a triple bogey. The short 12th took a quintuple bogey 8, which is a considerable achievement on a hole of that length. The par-5 13th took a triple. The 14th and the 15th each took a quadruple, apparently in the interests of consistency.

He signed for 27, the worst Trophy score of the day. Before the round he trailed the next-worst player by 5 points. He now sits 14 points clear at the foot of the TEG 10 Wooden Spoon standings. The competition for last place has effectively been discontinued.