Alex Baker closed at Prince's Shore/Dunes with the round of his life. Forty-four points, and a personal-best gross of 89, seventeen over. It was the best Stableford total in the field on the final Sunday. It came directly off a 32-point third round, a swing of 12 that arrived with the timing of a man hearing the fire alarm and finally locating the door. He had started the day on the bottom of the 2020 TEG Wooden Spoon standings. He finished it six points clear of David Mullin, who had taken his place.

The round was built on control, not fireworks. Two holes to open without a dropped shot, pars at the 1st and 2nd. The same again at the 9th and 10th, the latter one of the hardest holes on the course. It was his first visit to this routing at Prince's, so the 89 is a personal best by the narrowest of definitions. It was also, on the day, exactly enough.

On the final afternoon at Prince's Shore/Dunes, David Mullin was playing with genuine discipline. Bogey-free through the 1st and 2nd. Bogey-free again through the 4th, 5th and 6th. A man, you would have said, in full command of himself.

Then came the 10th, stroke index 3, and a nine. A quintuple bogey, his worst hole of the round, and the point at which the composure of the previous nine holes was revealed as a loan rather than a gift.

It settled the TEG 13 Wooden Spoon. Before the 10th, Alex Baker held the bottom spot with a three-shot gap to the man above him. Afterwards, Mullin held it, with six shots of clear air behind him. At the top, the Trophy and Green Jacket races went on with Jon Baker in front, entirely undisturbed by any of this. Down at the bottom, the arithmetic was final. Mullin had the Spoon.

John Patterson's final round at Prince's Shore/Dunes, the course's first visit of this TEG, contained both halves of the game and very little in between. At the par-5 2nd, stroke index 12, he holed out for an eagle three. It was one of the highlights of the day and he had every right to feel that something had changed.

Nothing had changed. Thirteen holes later, at the par-5 15th, he made a quadruple bogey nine and four Stableford points vanished at a stroke.

The broader picture is a descent. Patterson had posted 49 points in the third round on Saturday, among his best returns of the four days. He followed it with 36. A swing of 13 points, and evidence that a links course keeps its own ledger. His 97 gross stands as his best score on the course. He has only played it once.