Gregg Williams had never won a Green Jacket. He now has one, and he acquired it in a manner that discourages debate: a gross total of +63, the TEG 15 Green Jacket by 29 strokes from Jon Baker, and every single round of the gross won. It is the best gross total of his career.

The third round at Penha Longa settled it. Williams went round in 82 gross, +10, a new course record, beating the previous mark of 86 established across six prior visits. It stands as the best gross round of his career. It was also a fourteen-stroke improvement on his own previous best at the mountain parkland course, the 96 he posted on his first visit there. He closed with 91 at Oitavos Dunes, two better than his previous best there. The 82 had already made the closing round decorative.

Baker was the nearest challenger and had genuine moments, including an 85 at Penha Longa, six strokes better than his previous best on the course, and a 94 at Oitavos Dunes. The trouble had been arranged a day earlier at West Cliffs, where he ran up an 11 at the par-four 17th. A septuple bogey, and the worst score he has recorded on a par four. Against a leader in that form, one such hole is not a setback. It is a resignation.

David Mullin produced the single most eye-catching swing of TEG 15 and also its most punishing collapse. He is a man of nine Green Jackets and the defending Trophy champion, and he conducted both halves of this with the same unruffled bearing.

The high point came at West Cliffs in round two, where he holed out for a three at the par-5 15th. It was the only eagle struck by anyone in the tournament. The same round contained a 10 at the par-5 6th, a quintuple bogey worth nothing whatsoever, and by the 11th, a triple bogey at another blank hole, Mullin had slipped from fourth to last in the TEG 15 Wooden Spoon race.

Round three at Penha Longa opened as well as any stretch of his four days: par, birdie, par for 10 points through three holes. Then a triple bogey at the 4th, the hardest hole on the card, closed the account. He still signed for 85 gross there, one stroke better than his previous best at the course.

Oitavos Dunes undid all of it. Mullin began with a quadruple-bogey 8 at the 1st and finished with another 8 at the 18th, closing with four consecutive holes without a net par. The round came in at 22 points and +33 gross, both the worst figures of his TEG career to date. His 104 at Oitavos was 16 strokes worse than the 88 he had managed on his only previous visit. He remains the defending champion, which is a fact, and this remains the worst round he has ever played, which is also a fact.

Alex Baker finished on 114 points and collected the TEG 15 Wooden Spoon, taking it directly from his brother Jon, the holder, which at least keeps the item in the family. The damage was concentrated rather than spread. Two rounds, and inside those rounds two short stretches, did nearly all of the work.

The first came at West Cliffs in round two, on a links course none of the field had played before. At the 6th, a par 5, Alex Baker signed for an 11: a sextuple bogey, and the worst he has recorded on a par 5. He followed it with a 9 at the 7th and a 7 at the 8th. Thirteen shots dropped in three holes, and not a net par to show for any of it. Later the same afternoon he took 10 at the 17th. The round came to 110 gross, which under the circumstances counts as containment.

Penha Longa the next day produced the same shape in a different setting. Nine at the 12th, six at the 13th and 10 at the 14th cost him 12 shots across three holes, again with no net par among them. He still signed for 106, matching precisely the gross he made here on his previous visit in TEG 8. Consistency of a sort.

The closing round offered something better. His 103 at Oitavos Dunes was a shot inside the 104 he posted there in TEG 8, a course best, arriving one round too late to trouble the standings or the destination of the Spoon.

Stuart Neumann's TEG 15 was built on holes that got away from him. It began at Estoril, where a 9 at the par-four 3rd was followed by a 10 at the par-four 15th. Six over on a single hole, and the worst he has recorded on a par four. He signed for 106 on a course none of the field had played before.

Round 2 at West Cliffs, another first visit, was worse. Stuart made an 8 at the 4th, a 10 at the par-five 6th, an 11 at the par-five 13th, a 9 at the 14th and a 9 at the 17th. Five holes, 26 shots over par between them, not one of them returning a point. The 9 at the 14th, the hardest hole on the card, dropped him to the bottom of the TEG 15 Wooden Spoon race. His gross total was 115. He kept playing. That should be noted.

Penha Longa turned it round. Stuart shot 92, seven strokes better than his 99 there in TEG 8 and a course best, with three straight pars-or-better against his handicap at the 14th, 15th and 16th worth nine points.

The pattern had not gone away, though. At Oitavos Dunes he closed with a 9 at the 18th, part of a 99 that left him four shots off the 95 he managed there in TEG 8. A man can drop 26 shots across five holes and still finish second in the Trophy. That is not a remark about Neumann. It is a remark about everybody else.

For six holes on the Monday at Penha Longa, John Patterson played better than anyone else managed across the four days. From the 3rd to the 8th of round three he collected 19 Stableford points: pars at the 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th, the last of those a four-pointer on the stroke index 4 short hole, and bogeys at the 4th and 8th that still banked three apiece.

The course then asked for it back, with interest. The 9th, 10th and 11th cost him eight shots against par, including a quadruple-bogey 8 at the 10th, and the stroke index 1 16th took a quintuple-bogey 9. He signed for a 99, his best gross of the tournament, on a course he was seeing for the first time.

Tuesday at Oitavos Dunes began worse. Patterson took 10 on the opening par 4, a sextuple bogey, then added double bogeys at the 2nd and the 3rd. Ten shots gone in three holes, no net par among them, and the round barely under way. The middle stretch was the same story told again: doubles at the 9th, 10th, 11th and 13th around a quadruple-bogey 7 at the par-3 12th, twelve shots dropped across five holes. A quadruple-bogey 8 at the 17th completed the paperwork. His 105 was his highest round of the tournament, and his four blow-up holes there accounted for 16 shots on their own.