Ian Poulter missed out on a place in the World Cup as Korea's KJ Choi claimed victory in the Linde German Masters in Cologne.

Poulter needed to win to qualify for England's two-man team at Kiawah Island in November but was unable to recover from a double bogey six on the ninth where his approach found the water.

The 27-year-old from Hertfordshire had to settle for a share of third place after a final round 68 gave him a 23 under par total of 265, three behind Choi.

Choi, making his debut in a regular European Tour event, fired a closing 67 to collect the first prize of £351,978, finishing two ahead of Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Jimenez birdied the last to claim outright second and valuable Ryder Cup qualifying points, with Poulter sharing third with Sweden's Niclas Fasth.

"The ninth gave me a kick up the backside to birdie 10 and 11 but all I was doing was getting those two shots back," said Poulter, who had the consolation of climbing to third on the Order of Merit.

"It's disappointing really because I only missed one fairway all day on the 17th and I missed a few putts as well.

"But my game is miles more consistent since I started working with David Leadbetter and I'm hitting some really good golf shots and making some good putts as well.

"In May I'd only won around £30,000 so it's great to be able to have put nigh on a million pounds on the board in a few months.

"The money is pretty nice but I just want to keep playing good golf and I want to be in the Ryder Cup so it's a nice start."

Choi, whose caddie Andy Prodger had to pull his clubs on a trolley due to a bad back, took a one-shot lead into the final round but was quickly caught as Poulter birdied the first two holes.

He jumped back in front in spectacular fashion however, his second shot from 187 yards diving into the hole without bouncing for an eagle two on the fifth, damaging the edge of the hole in the process.

There was never more than one shot in it until the closing stages, Poulter, Fasth, Jimenez and Choi all sharing the lead at one stage or another.

Even another eagle on the 13th from Choi only edged him ahead by a stroke, and it was not until the closing stretch that the outcome was decided.

Fasth bogeyed the 16th after a wayward tee shot and almost simultaneously Choi two-putted the 15th for a birdie in the group behind to stretch his lead to two shots.

Jimenez then birdied the 18th to claim second place outright but Choi had hit his approach even closer and holed out for a winning birdie.

"I am so happy," said Choi, who won twice on the US Tour last year. "I would have been happy with a top 10 before I came here but a win is very rewarding.

"My intention on the fifth was to hit it softly because I used a six-iron instead of a six as normal because I was feeling tired, but I hit it solidly and it ended up in the hole so it worked out for the best.

"Now I have a five-year exemption on the European Tour I plan to play more over here."

The last hole birdie meant Jimenez claimed second on his own instead of a three-way tie with Fasth and Poulter, the 12ft putt worth an extra 109,620 points and 333,330 in total.

That is more than a third of the amount with which Phil Price secured the last qualifying place at The Belfry last year, and Jimenez was delighted to increase his chances of making his second appearance in the contest.

"I was really pleased with the birdie putt on the last," said the 39-year-old, who has not played in the Ryder Cup since the controversial clash at Brookline in 1999. "That made me second on my own and the extra Ryder Cup points are a real bonus."

Meanwhile Lee Westwood won a kilo of gold worth approximately £7,500 for a hole-in-one during his final round.

Westwood aced the 226-yard eighth hole with a four-iron in a front nine of 29 that had him on course to break the magical 60 barrier.

The former European number one also birdied the 10th to stand eight under for the day and needed five more birdies in eight holes to record the first ever 59 on the European Tour.

But the 30-year-old could only manage two more and bogeyed the 17th and had to settle for a round of 63 and 17 under par total of 271.

"I'm not sure I know what to do with it," said Westwood after being presented with the gold bar, about the size of a chocolate bar, by Dr Horst Muller of tournament sponsors Dresdner Bank.

"I couldn't see the ball go in from the tee but I said to my caddie I couldn't hit it much better and from the crowd's reaction we presumed it was in. It's only my second on tour and second this year (he won a magnum of champagne in the British Masters in June).

"That put me eight under after 10 holes and I thought 59 might be possible. But 59 is a very low score, I was still five birdies short and I hit a couple of bad shots and just didn't hit the iron shots close enough or 59 might have been on the cards.

"I did manage 59 this week with 29 on the front nine today and 30 on the back nine on Friday, but just didn't manage to put it together."

Collated final-round scores (Gbr&Irl unless stated, Par 72):

(x) denotes amateurs

262 KJ Choi (Kor) 63 68 64 67 (£351,978 pds)

264 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 67 62 67 68 (£234,650)

265 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 67 65 65, Ian Poulter 65 63 69 68 (£118,898)

268 Anders Hansen (Den) 69 62 72 65, Darren Clarke 65 71 65 67, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 65 65 67 71 (£75,605 each)

269 Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 68 69 68 64, David Howell 66 69 69 65, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 69 67 66 67, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 68 65 67 69

270 Gary Orr 65 66 70 69

271 Lee Westwood 71 67 70 63, Alex Cejka (Ger) 70 69 67 65, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 72 65 68 66

272 Justin Rose 69 66 70 67, Adam Scott (Aus) 66 69 67 70, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 67 66 71

274 Nick O'Hern (Aus) 67 70 72 65, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 66 70 72 66, Paul McGinley 67 72 69 66, Raymond Russell 68 71 69 66, Thomas Levet (Fra) 70 68 68 68, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 71 67 68 68, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 72 68 64 70, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 60 71 70 73, Mark McNulty (Zim) 68 67 66 73, Paul Casey 65 67 67 75

275 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 69 67 70 69, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 67 69 69 70, Miles Tunnicliff 67 63 71 74

276 Eduardo Romero (Arg) 69 69 74 64, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 69 67 72 68, Bradley Dredge 67 69 69 71, David Park 67 70 68 71, Ian Garbutt 69 70 66 71

277 David Lynn 74 65 71 67, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 69 68 70 70, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 72 66 69 70, Stephen Dodd 68 69 69 71

278 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 71 69 70 68, Paul Lawrie 69 67 72 70

279 Jonathan Lomas 69 71 71 68, Philip Golding 71 69 70 69, Charlie Wi (Kor) 69 71 70 69, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 66 70 72, Brett Rumford (Aus) 66 72 68 73, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 69 69 68 73, Ian Woosnam 67 67 71 74

280 Brian Davis 71 69 71 69, Simon Dyson 70 67 73 70, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 73 66 71 70, Peter Fowler (Aus) 69 67 73 71, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 68 68 72 72, Anthony Wall 67 70 71 72, David Gilford 66 71 69 74, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 72 66 67 75

281 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 72 68 72 69, Santiago Luna (Spa) 72 66 71 72, John Bickerton 67 68 72 74

282 Greg Owen 72 68 75 67, Sandy Lyle 67 72 73 70

283 Jamie Spence 68 70 74 71

284 Peter Hedblom (Swe) 68 65 80 71, Graeme McDowell 70 70 69 75

285 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 71 67 77 70

286 Barry Lane 70 70 78 68, Andrew Oldcorn 69 69 75 73, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 72 68 73 73, Richard Porter (Ger) 70 70 73 73

287 Tobias Dier (Ger) 71 68 75 73

291 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 69 71 78 73