Darren Clarke is fit enough to compete in the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open in Heidelberg despite tearing a thigh muscle while fishing.
Clarke suffered the injury on Monday when he bent over to unhook one of the trout he caught on the River Test in Hampshire.
After struggling through nine holes of practice on Tuesday, Clarke went for treatment and was told he was "extremely unlikely" to be fit enough for this week's event and "very unlikely" to play in the Volvo PGA championship at Wentworth, starting next Thursday.
He pulled out of the eve-of-tournament pro-am and admitted his nine holes on Tuesday was "not a clever move."
However, after receiving further treatment this morning, the world number 14 will tee off in less than an hour.
Out on the course, Padraig Harrington leads the Irish challenge on one-under while Ronan Rafferty has slipped to two-over par. Des Smyth, touted this week as a future Ryder Cup captain, is level par through 12 holes.
Eduardo Romero, on five-under, is the early leader while Tiger Woods, who received a $2 million appearance fee to compete in Heidelberg,