Ian Poulter has explained his absence from the Vivendi Trophy in Paris this week by saying he wants to avoid burn-out.

Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie criticised Poulter — top-scorer against the Americans last year — for turning down the chance to play for Britain and Ireland against Continental Europe.

“I really want to be fresh and strong for all of the Ryder Cup qualifying events that I'm going to play in — the Ryder Cup means everything to me,” Poulter said.

“It would have been great to play the Seve Trophy (the old name for the Vivendi Trophy), but the schedule becomes very difficult to play every event — so important not to burn out.

“The Vivendi Trophy will be awesome to highlight some potential new Ryder cup players — Fisher, McIlroy, Kjeldsen, Quiros, Dougherty, Wood etc.”

Lee Westwood, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia also decided not to play, while Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer are injured and Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald are playing in America.

Poulter failed to make it to the Tour Championship by one shot.

Meanwhile, Lam Chih Bing fired a five-under-par 66 to grab a share of the lead after the first-round of the Asia-Pacific Open but it was a miracle the Singaporean was able to tee off at all.

Lam's effort was underpinned by five birdies on his inward nine at Joyo Country Club in Kyoto but he revealed afterwards his career was almost ended on Monday when compatriot Mardan Mamat accidentally hit him in the face with a driver.

The 32-year-old was struck near the right eye when Mardan took a practice swing but luckily his sunglasses cushioned the impact.

“I'm just very happy that I got to tee off today and it's an even bigger bonus that I played good,” he said.