TEG 11 · Round 3

JOHN PATTERSON

Patterson Shrugs Off Another Nine

Three straight bogeys around the turn, one of them at the hardest hole on the course, carried a round that survived a nine at the sixteenth without noticeably slowing down.

John Patterson produced the best round of the day at El Prat - Azul. Thirty-nine Trophy points, the third-best of his eleven TEG rounds. He also took a nine at the 16th.

The 16th is one of the tougher holes on the course by stroke index, and Patterson treated it accordingly. A quintuple bogey, no points, nothing to show for the visit. The rest of the card was another man entirely.

From the 8th he bogeyed three in a row: the 8th, the 9th and the 10th. The 8th is the hardest hole on the course. That run yielded nine points. Stableford has rarely been so generous to a man doing so little.

The round came too late to lift him off the bottom of the Wooden Spoon race, where he had begun the day as the outright laggard. Rescue arrived from elsewhere. By day's end David Mullin had taken over the position, entirely on his own initiative. It did nothing to disturb the Trophy race either, where Alex Baker moved ahead of Jon Baker at the top.

ALEX BAKER | JON BAKER

Three Holes Undo Forty-Five

The margin at the top of the TEG 11 Trophy is precisely what it was on Friday evening; only the names on either side of it have swapped places.

Jon Baker had led the TEG 11 Trophy since the fourth hole of round one. Forty-five holes of unbroken possession. It went at the 13th on Saturday at El Prat's Azul course, and it went to his brother.

Alex Baker had already drawn level at the very first hole of the round, only for Jon to restore his advantage. Then came the 11th, the 12th and the 13th. Jon dropped seven shots across them: a double bogey, another double, and a triple at the 13th. Not one net par in the sequence.

Alex, over almost the same ground, did the opposite. Three pars in a row from the 12th through the 14th, nine clean Stableford points, no fuss at all. He took outright possession of the lead on the 13th green.

The margin at the top of the Trophy did not move. Two points before, two points after. Only the names had swapped. Jon Baker led for 45 holes and is now exactly as far behind as he was once ahead, which is a tidy piece of accounting and no comfort whatsoever.

DAVID MULLIN

Mullin Leads the Jacket for One Hole

He ended the longest lead of the tournament so far, kept it for a single tee shot, and finished the day at the bottom of a different competition altogether.

David Mullin led the TEG 11 Green Jacket. The tenure ran from the fifth green to the sixth tee.

He drew level with Jon Baker at the par-4 3rd and took outright control soon after. Then Baker bogeyed the par-3 6th and still came out ahead. That single fact is the whole account of Mullin's 6th. It ended Baker's 37-hole hold on the lead, stretching back to the first round, for roughly the length of one walk.

Mullin had gone through the 2nd and 3rd without dropping a shot. At the par-3 6th he made a quadruple bogey 7. A seven on a par three requires commitment. From there the slide became procedure. Five holes from the 11th to the 15th passed without a single net par, triple bogeys at both the 11th and the 13th among them.

A bogey at the 12th, one of the easiest holes on the course, dropped him from fourth to the bottom of the Wooden Spoon race. He relieved John Patterson of the post without ceremony. A genuine tilt at the Jacket, converted into the day's worst turnaround, in the space of an afternoon.

Records & Personal Bests

Notable achievements: TEG 11, Round 3