On the back nine at Penha Longa, with the TEG 16 Green Jacket race live, Jon Baker's round came apart in three holes. A double bogey at the 11th was merely the overture. At the par-5 12th, ranked the easiest hole on the course by stroke index, he took a quintuple bogey 10. The 13th brought a quadruple bogey 8. Eleven shots gone across the three, and not a single net par among them.

The timing was cruel. Williams had begun the day leading the Jacket race by just 4 shots. He ended it 14 clear, still out front, and much of that was handed to him rather than won. Baker's return to a course where he had previously gone well came in 12 strokes worse than his last visit to Penha Longa. He did not lose the Jacket race here. He simply stopped competing in it.

Round 3 at Penha Longa offered Alex Baker nothing at all. He arrived already anchored to the bottom of the TEG 16 Wooden Spoon and set about proving the anchor was well placed. He collapsed twice in one round, which shows a certain thoroughness. The first came early. From the 2nd to the 6th he shed 11 shots, including a triple bogey at the 4th, one of the hardest holes on the course, and four holes running without a net par.

The back nine was worse. Between the 11th and the 14th he bled 12 shots. The centrepiece was a 9 at the 12th, a quadruple bogey on one of the easiest holes out there, and the low point of another three-hole run without a net par. Nothing on the hole had asked for this.

Baker finished still rooted to the bottom of the Spoon standings. The gap to the next-worst player was unchanged at three points. Two collapses, and not one inch of ground gained or lost. There is a kind of stability in that.