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Ian Poulter has spoken of his relief after being handed a PGA Tour reprieve.

The 41-year-old Englishman lost his card after missing the cut at last week’s Valero Texas Open but, due to an error in the FedEx Cup points, it turns out he will keep it until the end of the season.

It’s all down to Poulter being on a major medical extension after missing four months of last season with a foot injury.

This is the first year that the PGA Tour has moved away from the money-list category and used only FedEx Cup points to determine the top 125, with the new points structure offering significantly fewer points overall between places 15th and 68th.

Read more – Ian Poulter’s best tweets

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And because Poulter was playing for 2016 points to earn his card from the remainder of 2017, it made it more difficult for him to retain his exempt status.

“Obviously quite a relief to know that I can play my schedule and plan my schedule for the rest of 2017,” said Poulter. “And although I’ve got work to do to maintain my status for a regular season, I’m in a very different situation today than what I was yesterday.

“I wasn’t aware of the FedEx points deduction being that significant. So when it was brought to their attention, obviously a couple of days ago, they realised that Brian and myself were obviously trying to earn points for the 2016 season.

“So it would have been slightly unfair if we were being devalued from our opportunities we had last year in 2016.”

Another beneficiary of the points mix-up is Brian Gay, who it is understood informed the PGA Tour about the discrepancy, with Poulter promising a nice gift for him and his wife Kimberly when he next tees it up at The Players Championship.

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