The AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open was set for a thrilling finish with four players tied for the lead heading into the final nine holes at Heritage Golf Club.
Frenchman Benjamin Hebert, South African Louis de Jager, Belgian Thomas Detry and Italian Renato Paratore were all at 18 under, a shot clear of France's Julien Guerrier, Dane Rasmus Højgaard and Scot Grant Forrest.
De Jager was coming towards the end of his round, with Hebert having completed 14 holes and Detry and Paratore both around the turn.
Paratore and Højgaard had both led by two at one point but it was all to play for in the Indian Ocean.
De Jager made a remarkable early move from a long way back, sandwiching a hat-trick of gains from the fourth with birdies on the par five second and seventh.
A wonderful second to eight feet at the ninth saw him turn in 30 and share the lead but he was not at the top for long.
Højgaard put a beautiful approach to seven feet at the first for a birdie but his second at the second was even better, setting up a 12 foot putt for eagle and a two shot lead.
Paratore had made his birdie on the second and he used the slope to put his second shot on the fourth to two feet and join the group in second.
Højgaard played a slightly clumsy chip on the fourth for a first mistake of the day and the lead was cut to one.
He found an awkward stance for his second at the driveable fifth for a second bogey in a row and, ahead at the sixth, Paratore holed a very long right to lefter down the slope to take the lead.
Guerrier was playing in the group behind De Jager and he added to birdies on the second, fifth and seventh with a hat-trick from the ninth to surge to 16 under.
Countryman Hebert birdied the two par fives and the short par fours on the front nine to go with a bogey on the sixth but he picked up another shot on the tenth.
That group at 16 under continued to swell and Detry was the next to join it, driving the green at the fifth and getting down in two to recover from a bogey at the third.
Those players were soon two back, however, as Paratore made a two putt birdie on the seventh.
De Jager hit a stunning second into the par five 14th for an eagle from three feet and a share of the lead but Paratore drove to the side of the ninth and got up and down to edge back ahead.
After a bogey on the 13th, Guerrier also eagled the next and Højgaard was not giving up the chase either, making a two putt birdie on the seventh.
A Paratore three putt on the tenth meant it was a tie for the lead and Hebert soon made it three at the top.
He had bogeyed the 12th but hit back at the next and then put his second to tap-in range at the 14th.
Detry took advantage of the seventh and a lovely chip on the ninth meant he made another birdie and it was a four way tie at the top.
Forrest was blemish free in his first 12 holes, picking up shots on the second, eighth, ninth, tenth and 12th.
Antoine Rozner, Robin Sciot-Siegrist and Connor Syme were two shots off the lead.
