But the 26-year-old's 11th place in the points table earned him the consolation of being told by captain Sam Torrance that he would be drafted into the team if any of the 10 qualifiers pulled out.

And while several of Torrance's 12-man team struggle to rediscover their best form, Poulter at least seems to be peaking at the right time.

Starting on the 10th hole, Poulter opened with two birdies and finished his first nine holes the same way to be out in 32, four under par.

Another birdie on the first made it three in a row and at five under he moved into the outright lead before an even more impressive run of scoring from home favourite Bernhard Langer.

Langer has won every European Tour event held on German soil at least once apart from this one and looked determined to set the record straight in Munich.

Playing in the group behind Poulter, Langer was out in 34 after birdies at the 16th and 18th, and then rattled in five more birdies from the first - making it six in a row - to move to seven under.

That put him on top of the leaderboard, two ahead of Poulter and Robert Coles.

Ireland's Padraig Harrington was level par with four holes to play after four birdies and four bogeys.