Laurie Canter fired the lowest round of the 2020 Race to Dubai to open up a four shot lead midway through day one of the Italian Open.
The Englishman signed for a sublime 60 to get to 12 under and leave the rest of the morning starters trailing in his wake at Chervò Golf Club.
Placing on the fairways meant that he could not set a course record but Canter's stunning effort was still the lowest of his professional career and the lowest in event history since 1972.
It also matched the lowest score to par in European Tour history and was the lowest score to par since Oliver Fisher's historic 59 at the Portugal Masters in 2018.
Dane Joachim B. Hansen carded a 64 to be the nearest challenger, a shot ahead of Spaniard Adri Arnaus, Dutchman Wil Besseling and Swede Oscar Lengden.
Canter came through the Qualifying School in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019 and secured his first European Tour top 10 at the 78th time of asking at this season's Hero Open.
A runner up finish at the Portugal Masters followed and the 30-year-old showed in Brescia that he is now truly at home on the European Tour.
Starting at the tenth in just the second group of the day, he sandwiched gains on the 14th, 16th and 17th by taking advantage of the par five 11th and 18th to turn in 31.
He made further birdies on the third and fourth but jumped clear of the pack on a low scoring morning with an eagle on the sixth after putting his second to 16 feet.
A birdie from five feet at the seventh was followed by a poor tee shot at the next but he played a wonderful second to set up another gain from 20 feet.
An approach to 15 feet on the ninth then set up a closing birdie and a second nine of 29 as he picked up five shots in his last four holes.
Hansen made a hat-trick of birdies from the tenth and while he dropped a shot on the 14th, he made gains on the 15th and 17th to turn in 32.
Another trio of gains came from the fifth and a 25 foot putt on the ninth moved him into solo second.
Lengden was bogey free with seven birdies, Besseling dropped a single shot in his round, and Arnaus made an eagle and seven birdies to go with two bogeys.
England's Matthew Jordan and Jack Senior, Frenchmen Julien Quesne and Robin Roussel, and Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan were six shots off the lead.
