Angel Hidalgo lit up Moving Day but Adrien Saddier took a one-shot lead into the final round of the 2025 Amgen Irish Open.
Hidalgo surged into contention at The K Club with a 63 that saw him equal a DP World Tour record and admitted he felt like he was playing a video game as he fired seven straight birdies on the front nine.
Four more followed between the tenth and 15th and though a trip to the water at the 16th took some of the shine off the Spaniard's round, he finished with a birdie to set the clubhouse lead at 14 under par.
Saddier, playing in the final group after starting the day one shot behind overnight leader Joakim Lagergren, responded with a 68 to reach 15 under but it is Hidalgo's round that will live longest in the memory.
No DP World Tour player has ever made more than his 12 birdies in a single round, with Hidalgo the ninth player to achieve the feat and the third in the last three years, following Matt Wallace at the 2023 DP World Tour Championship and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen at last year's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Asked to describe his round, Hidalgo said: "Well, I can't. I really felt for a few moments I was playing on the Playstation, to be honest. Every single shot was directly to the pin."
His birdie at the second was the first of seven in succession, highlighted by putting his tee-shot within 18 inches at the par-three third and holing a 43-foot putt at the fifth.
The run ended - short of another DP World Tour record of nine in a row - with a bogey at the ninth but Hidalgo, winner of the 2024 acciona Open de España, picked straight back up where he left off with gains at the tenth and 11th.
Another at the 14th took him into first place on his own and he extended his lead at the next - but then came back to the pack with a double-bogey seven at the 16th after his approach slipped into the water.
He holed an excellent par-saver at the 17th and then found the green in two at the par-five last, two-putting to make it a dozen birdies for a memorable day's work.
"I was feeling since the shot on hole number three - I hit a perfect shot - I felt in control with the swing. I felt smooth," he said. "I said to my caddie, 'okay, it's a moment to throw the coin and see if we can go really low'."
Hidalgo is the second player to make 12 birdies in a DP World Tour round at The K Club, following Darren Clarke in his course-record 60 in the 1999 Smurfit European Open.
The remaining players in the 12-birdie club are Fred Couples (1991 Scandinavian Masters), Ernie Els (1994 Dubai Desert Classic), Russell Claydon (1995 Mercedes German Masters), Jeppe Huldahl (2010 Portugal Masters) and Raphaël Jacquelin (2013 Turkish Airlines Open).
Saddier birdied the second and third, the latter after matching Hidalgo's pinpoint tee-shot, and recovered from a bogey at the sixth with further gains at the ninth and tenth to take the lead.
He bogeyed the next as Hidalgo again moved ahead but a birdie at the 13th and a 35-foot putt at the 16th swung it back Saddier's way. He dropped a shot at the 17th but responded with a closing birdie for the overnight lead.
The Frenchman said: "It was pretty good. A pretty good start to me, two under after three. Then four was pretty tough.
"I was quite surprised with the score to be honest. But I think, yeah, I managed the course pretty well, with my low moments and my high moments. So I feel happy about that 68."
Saddier led after two rounds of last week's Omega European Masters before fading over the weekend and he said: "There is still 18 holes to play, so a lot of things can happen. As I said yesterday, I crushed myself last weekend.
"I have a good chance. I was with my team on Monday, and I'm focused on tomorrow and what I have to do and what I can control. We'll see what happens."
World Number Two and home favourite Rory McIlroy is the big name in the chasing pack, four off the lead at 11 under after a 68 - one behind Saturday's playing partner Alfredo Garcia-Heredia, who had two eagles in his 67.
Lagergren shot 73 and was alongside McIlroy at 11 under. Oliver Lindell, Rafa Cabrera Bello and Jacob Skov Olesen shared sixth place on ten under, with the latter's namesake and fellow Dane Thorbjørn Olesen a further shot back.
