IAN POULTER'S dash across the world to play in last week's Hong Kong Open has turned out to be an unnecessary journey as he as made the WGC-HSBC Champions event after all.
The Englishman dropped out of the world's top 50 on October 19, making him ineligible for the Shanghai tournament and leaving him short of the 13 events required for European Tour membership next year.
With a potential place in Europe's Ryder Cup team, at risk Poulter made a frantic journey from Orlando to Hong Kong, with US PGA champion Rich Beem agreeing to give up his tournament invite.
The 39-year-old was initially sixth reserve for the final World Golf Championship event of the year, but the first four were drafted in to complete the 78-man field and Tyrrell Hatton then replaced the injured George Coetzee.
And when American Brandt Snedeker also withdrew, Poulter was added to the field for the event event which provided his last European Tour victory in 2012.
He tweeted: "I will be playing the #hsbcchampions event next week in Shanghai now. I guess it was meant to be ... "
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