France's Julien Guerrier raised hopes of shooting his second 59 in DP World Tour history before shooting an opening 62 at the Andalusia Masters.
Guerrier entered the turn in just 29 at Sotogrande and also had birdies on Nos. 10 and 11 to reach 9 under with two par 5s left.
However, the 39-year-old was unable to take advantage of the 12th and 14th holes, and although he birdied the 15th, he tied Oliver Fisher on 59 at the 2018 Portugal Masters. The chances of the pole were effectively gone.
Nonetheless, Guerrier ended the day at 10 under, one shot ahead of England's Dan Brown and Spain's Jorge Campillo a further behind.
Ireland's Tom McKibbin shot 67 to finish at 5 under and tied for seventh. The 21-year-old from Holywood, who is competing for a spot on next year's PGA Tour, dropped just one shot while recording six birdies, four of which came on a perfect back nine.
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Pre-tournament favorite Jon Rahm was eight shots off the lead, and things could have been worse for the two-time major champion, who had to birdie three of his final five holes to win. Shot 70.
“It's not my sharpest,” Rahm said.
“Even though I hit the ball well off the tee, I made too many mistakes with the irons and when you don’t hit the ball solid in this wind you pay the price and that’s what happened today.
“I realized early on that I wasn’t swinging very well and it was going to be a battle, but on a day like this the crowd is always going to help and pull you back.
“I missed my fourth putt (from inside three feet) and got some cheers and a lot of support and I was able to finish strong.
“I'm just happy that I played some stupid golf the last five holes and gave myself some chances and got a score, not the best score but a score and hopefully I can do it the rest of the week. There has been an improvement.”
