In the final round, Gregg Williams went out and posted the best score anyone has ever managed at Monte Rei. An 83, eleven over, on a course where nobody had broken 87 in ten previous visits, and six shots better than his own effort the last time he played it. A course record, held outright, and he is entitled to mention it at every opportunity for the rest of his life.

It was built on patience rather than fireworks. Pars at the 4th, 5th and 6th brought nine Stableford points in three holes without a gross shot dropped, a golden spell by any standard and an outrageous one here. He then closed with a par at the 17th, the third hardest hole on the card, and a birdie at the par-5 18th that bends around the lake. Taking on that finish with a tournament in your hands and coming away one under for the two holes is the sort of nerve the rest of them can only admire from a distance.

The 42 points were the best in the field, eleven clear of the worst, and they took six points out of Jon Baker's Trophy lead in a single afternoon.

The 7th is the hardest of Monte Rei's par threes: better than 230 yards from the back tee, with a narrow channel onto the putting surface and deep hollows waiting on either side for anyone who misses. On Tuesday afternoon it took money off four of the five players in the field.

John Patterson had the worst of it and walked off with a 10. That is seven over par on one par three, and the worst hole relative to par he has ever recorded. There is no tactful way to describe it. Alex Baker and David Mullin each made six, which on this hole almost passes for respectability. Alex's came in the middle of a run from the 4th to the 8th that cost him 13 shots, while Mullin's sat in the centre of a three-hole stretch from the 6th that cost eight.

Jon Baker got out with a five and should probably have sent a thank-you note, though it was also the opening act of those three straight doubles. One par three, and most of the day's damage was done before anyone reached the turn.

Alex Baker's Monday 43 was the best golf of his trip by a distance. The round that followed was ten points worse: a 33, and a gross 106.

It went wrong in blocks rather than dribs. He played four holes from the 4th without a single net par, which took a triple-bogey 7, a double at the short 5th, an 8 at the 6th and a triple at the 7th. Later came the 12th, the horseshoe par 4 bending round water, where anyone not driving the green has to lay up and wedge in; he took a quadruple-bogey 8 and moved on without discussing it.

Then, from nowhere, back-to-back pars at the 13th and 14th, the only two holes all day where he gave nothing away whatsoever. For a glorious quarter of an hour he was the most reliable player on the property, and his playing partners were starting to worry. Three straight doubles from the 15th, including the hardest hole on the course, cost six shots to the close. He finished third in the TEG 2026 Trophy on 143 points.