Gregg Williams had a middle section of the round he will want to forget. He dropped nine shots in four holes from the 9th: a triple bogey at the short 9th, the one par 3 on the course meant to offer a breather, followed by doubles at the 10th, 11th and 12th. Four holes, and the TEG 19 Green Jacket swung with them.

Jon Baker drew level for the first time with a par at the 15th, stroke index 1, a hole that has no business handing out pars to anyone. Williams edged back in front with a bogey at the 16th, Jon Baker levelled again with a bogey at the 17th, and then Williams birdied the par-5 18th, over the water, to finish the round two clear rather than four.

The Trophy went the other way entirely. Jon Baker took the outright lead with a par at the 8th and never handed it back, turning five points into ten.

The Monday round produced the best gross score Monte Rei has ever surrendered in TEG. Jon Baker's 87 equalled the record of 87 set across the five previous rounds played there, and took a shot off his own 88 from his first visit.

Nothing about the opening stretch suggested any of this was coming. He went triple bogey, double, double from the 2nd to the 4th, seven shots gone in three holes, and the 6 at the 3rd arrived on one of the hardest holes on the card. Bad golf, efficiently delivered, and apparently got out of the system.

What followed was five straight pars from the 11th to the 15th, worth 16 Stableford points, and the group will be discussing them for some time. The par at the 13th came on a hole where even a short approach rarely yields one. At the 14th he put his tee shot safely past the corner of the lake, which is the whole job. The 15th, the toughest hole out there, gave up four points to him. A double bogey 7 at the 16th finally stopped the run, and after that spell it felt like an imposition.

His lead in the 2026 TEG Trophy got considerably more comfortable.

The TEG 19 Wooden Spoon narrowed sharply. John Patterson, who has been last since the ninth hole of Round 2, posted 36 points, eleven better than the 25 he managed that day, while David Mullin returned 30, the lowest score in the field of five.

Patterson's recovery needed one first. A triple bogey at the 6th, where the vast bunkers guard an offset green, started a run of four holes dropped to the card, which he ended by birdieing the 10th. Mullin's trouble came later and was more expensive: a triple bogey at the 13th, then bogey, bogey, double and another triple through the 17th. Ten shots over par in five holes is a hard thing to watch, and the birdie at the last arrived far too late to be of any practical use.

Both men signed for 97, and for Patterson that was fourteen strokes better than his only previous visit. He is still bottom, but the gap to fourth has come down from nine points to three.