Peter Whiteford in shock at his share of lead in Munich

The pair shot eight-under-par 64s and Whiteford admitted his effort had come completely out of the blue.

"It sounds stupid when I've just shot eight-under but I'm not swinging it that great – I was terrible in the practice rounds," said the Kirkcaldy man.

"I've found something that I'm working on and I'm going to work on it again this afternoon.

"I got the ball around the course really well and, while it felt a bit strange, sometimes when you aren't firing on all cylinders you play your best golf.

"It was a bit of a struggle but I putted really well and didn't make any silly errors.

"When you're not feeling 100 per cent confident you don't take on the flags and that was the case today."

Whiteford, who signed for six birdies and an eagle, added: "I would have been happy with a couple under, to be honest, and I need to work on trying to shape it a bit better."

Neither Dredge nor Whiteford were involved in the second major of the year. They are 173rd and 203rd in the world respectively, but that still makes them higher-ranked than the four players who are their closest challengers overnight. Thailand's Chapchai Nirat is 287th, Dane Jeppe Huldahl 290th and Argentina's Ariel Canete 448th, while Dredge's compatriot Phillip Price, the other man to shoot 65, has dropped to 982nd in the rankings since his Ryder Cup triumph over Phil Mickelson eight years ago.

David Drysdale, on his return from a shoulder injury, shot a four-under 68, one less than Paul Lawrie, Ross Bain and Scott Drummond.

Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie had a 70, Andrew Coltart and Alastair Forsyth both signed for 71s, while Steven O'Hara and Marc Warren were a shot further adrift.

Richie Ramsay had a 75, while Andrew McArthur and Stephen Gallacher are also well down the field after 77s.

The latter can clinch a spot in the Open Championship on Sunday through a mini-Order of Merit and would have been pleased, no doubt, to see that James Kingston and Danny Willet had rounds of 70 and 71 respectively. They need to win or finish second to deny Gallacher his place at St Andrews.

Sergio Garcia also slumped to a five-over 77. The Spaniard, who had two double bogeys in his last three holes, suffered by far the worst of the players back from the US Open and battling with nine hours of jetlag. Last month in Madrid, Garcia missed his first halfway cut on European soil for nearly six years. Today it could be two in a row at home for the first time as a professional.