David Mullin shot 83 gross at Praia D'El Rey in round 4. It is a new course record, beating the previous best of 84 from six prior visits. It is also the second-best gross round in TEG history to date, ten shots better than par. That is the headline, and it deserves to stand undisturbed for one sentence.

The round was not without incident. Mullin bogeyed the 9th, then ran up a triple bogey at the par-5 10th, which is a curious way to enter the record books. He stopped the bleeding with a birdie at the 11th. That launched a run of four shots gained to par across holes 11 to 13, following an earlier stretch from the 4th to the 8th in which he had gained five. A double bogey at the short 14th then ended his run of pars, as if to remind everyone where he plays his golf.

The 83 beat his own previous best at the course, 89, by six shots. It stands as his best score there through this TEG. He remained the Green Jacket leader, his overall advantage narrowing slightly to 15.

Alex Baker's final round at Praia D'El Rey confirmed what the preceding days had been patiently explaining to him. The TEG 7 Wooden Spoon was his. He began the round eight shots adrift of safety and finished exactly eight adrift, which suggests a certain consistency of purpose.

The trouble started at the short 3rd with a quadruple bogey 7. It matured into a pair of quintuple bogey 9s, first at the 6th, then again at the 16th. In between came a strange pocket of composure. A birdie at the 14th halted a run of bogeys and doubles, and across three holes from the 13th he gained five shots against par. For a moment he was a golfer.

It changed nothing. The round did yield one consolation, his best score yet at the course this TEG, a distinction of the kind normally awarded to the least-damaged car in the wreck. The Spoon was his for the taking, and he took it.

Jon Baker's Sunday at Praia D'El Rey began quietly. His opening round of the tournament had already put him second in the TEG 7 Trophy and first in the TEG 7 Green Jacket. He then played holes 2 through 5 without dropping a single gross shot, gaining five strokes to par. It looked like the work of a man who had solved something.

Then came the 10th. A sextuple bogey 11 on the par-5, his worst hole of the tournament. He walked to the short 11th and made a quadruple bogey 7. Two holes. No survivors.

The standings absorbed the news without sentiment. Baker slipped from second to fifth in the Trophy race and from first to fourth in the Green Jacket, a three-place fade in both, having led the way after round one. Round four at Praia D'El Rey turned from foundation to rubble inside two holes.