Poulter places fate in Faldo's hands

Ian Poulter has put his Ryder Cup future on the line by deciding to skip this week's Johnny Walker Championship in favour of a trip to the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston.

Poulter's decision means he will be unable to earn the points needed to qualify automatically for the European Ryder Cup team, and will therefore be left depending on one of Nick Faldo's two wildcards for a place in the team.

Poulter chose the Deutche Bank Championship over the Johnny Walker Championship in the hopes of qualifying for the PGA Tour's Fed Ex Cup play-offs at the Deutsche Bank Championship, BMW Championship and the Players Championship.

"It has been an extremely difficult decision to take given my burning desire to represent Europe again in defending the Ryder Cup in the United States,” Poulter said. "But the fact that Boston this week is my only opportunity to qualify for the final two play-off events as well as being my final opportunity to play my 15 events on the US PGA Tour conflicts with my ambition to play Gleneagles and earn my spot in the team.”

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