Alex Baker's fourth round at Boavista was the best in TEG history to that point. Fifty-one Stableford points, built on a gross score of 17 over par. That was his own personal best at the course, eleven shots better than his previous visit here.

The card was not spotless. He bogeyed the par-4 5th and bogeyed the par-5 8th, one of the harder holes on the property. In this company that passes for a scandal. From holes 5 to 10 he still gained 21 points, and across holes 6-7 and 9-10 he did not drop a single gross shot.

The timing could not have been sharper. The 2017 TEG Trophy race arrived at Boavista dead level. Baker was already the man to catch, but with no gap to his nearest rival. By the time he walked off the 18th, the gap was eleven points, all of it earned in one round. The lead itself never changed hands. He started the day on top and finished there. What changed was the contest behind him, which stopped being a scrap and became a chase. The chase was already over.

Boavista Golf & Spa Resort in Lagos hosted its 12th TEG round on Tuesday, 03/10/2017. The afternoon delivered fresh course bests for two of the six players. Stuart Neumann was undone before he had finished settling in.

His trouble came immediately. A double bogey at the 1st. A quadruple bogey seven at the par-3 2nd, one of Boavista's easiest holes at SI 16. A further double at the 3rd. Eight shots bled inside three holes. He never recovered, and his round finished well adrift of the 82 he had once carded here.

At the other end, Jon Baker and Gregg Williams both closed out clean, each playing 16 and 17 without a dropped gross shot. Jon Baker's finish carried more weight: a run from 15 to 17 worth 9 Stableford points, with a bogey at the fearsome SI-1 15th still counting thanks to his stroke allowance. His 86 and Williams's 93 were both personal bests at Boavista. Each was three shots inside his own previous visit.

Elsewhere the standings simply hardened. Alex Baker's lead in the 2017 Trophy held and stretched to 11. David Mullin's Green Jacket advantage grew to 12. John Patterson slipped further adrift at the bottom of the Wooden Spoon standings, now 32 shots off the pace, and still descending.

John Patterson closed out the Wooden Spoon in the worst possible style. He posted 21 points and a gross 40 over par. Both are his worst rounds on record, on either measure. The field ranged from 21 points up to 51, and Patterson supplied the 21. The best gross of the day was 13 over. He was not close to it.

The damage came in clusters. At the 8th, one of the hardest holes on the course, he ran up a sextuple-bogey 11. It is the worst hole against par he has ever played. He added a quintuple-bogey 9 at the 18th and a quadruple-bogey 8 at the 10th. Three separate blow-ups. No scorecard survives three.

None of it changed the destination of the Wooden Spoon. Patterson had occupied it since the first day and never looked like putting it down. The gap to the next-worst player was 14 points before the round. It was 32 by the end of it. A Spoon led wire to wire, and defended with real commitment.