Nicolas Colsaerts said it was "super special" to make an albatross after becoming the fourth person to achieve the feat at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Starting from the tenth tee at Kingsbarns Golf Links, overnight co-leader Colsaerts made a bright start to his third round, notching three birdies in his first five holes.
But his round caught fire at the 16th as his second shot into the par five rolled into the cup for a memorable two.
Using a six iron from 223 yards, he drilled the ball up the slope behind the pin and watched on as it trickled back into the hole.
The Belgian appeared not to realise that he had secured the rare bird until being told shortly afterwards.
Despite a disappointing double bogey at the 18th, Colsaerts went on to sign for a third successive 65 to sit one shot off the lead on 21 under par heading into the final round.
He said: "It was obviously super special. I think that when you play Kingsbarns and you play the 16th and you see that ball down the left, that's obviously where you would like to see the flag, which is not the usual spot actually.
"We've had it before but yeah, that six iron just came out perfectly. I was like, 'I'm going to take a chance and try to fly it in there', and I saw the ball coming back down the backstop.
"I was like, 'OK', and I put the two hands in the air.
"Super special. An albatross is pretty rare. Really chuffed, yeah.
"I saw one of you guys with a camera at the back that told me it was in. Listen, I would have been quite happy with a tap-in three but of course it was a cherry on the cake.
"Holing a six iron for an albatross two on a par five is pretty cool."
Nicolas Colsaerts' front nine was entertaining...
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) October 5, 2024
He leads the way at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.#dunhilllinks pic.twitter.com/1dOOBVSHvn
Speaking about being in contention on Sunday, the 2012 Ryder Cup star said: "I'm so happy to be here.
"I want to thank Johann Rupert for giving me an invite six days ago to play in this.
"I mean, having no category and getting to play these events and play so well in them is satisfying, and I'm really happy to get a shot at it tomorrow.
"It would be amazing (to win)."
