France's Alexander Levy won the Volvo China Open for the second time in four years after beating South Africa's Dylan Frittelli in a play-off in Beijing.

Levy birdied the 18th hole in regulation to complete a closing 67 and repeated the feat on the first extra hole after Frittelli missed his own longer attempt.

The pair had finished tied on 17 under par after overnight leader Frittelli could only manage a 74 in the final round at Topwin Golf and Country Club.

"This means a lot because it was the first tournament I won on the European Tour," Levy said. "It's an amazing feeling to be back in the winner's circle.

"I won last year after a bad injury and to come back with the win was very tough for me. I'm really happy with what I did today. I want to say happy birthday to my caddie because it's his birthday today and I think it's a really good present."

Frittelli began the day with a three-shot lead and was five clear when nearest challenger Pablo Larrazabal bogeyed the first two holes.

The 26-year-old was still four ahead with seven holes to play, before running up a double bogey on the 12th after his drive finished up against the base of a tree and forced him to take a penalty drop.

A birdie on the 15th – where he drove the green on the short par four – gave Frittelli a two-shot lead, but another errant tee shot on the next came to rest under a large boulder and led to a bogey.

Levy then carded his sixth birdie of the day on the 18th to catch Frittelli, who could not make a winning birdie on the same hole despite being able to get a favourable drop after hitting his approach over a hospitality tent to the left of the green.

Larrazabal birdied the 18th to complete a closing 72 and finish outright third, a shot ahead of England's Chris Wood and last week's winner Bernd Wiesberger.

Ian Poulter, meanwhile, has retained his PGA Tour card after fellow professional Brian Gay alerted officials to a discrepancy in the points structure used for players competing on major medical extensions.

After playing just 13 tournaments last year due to a foot injury, Poulter had 10 events this season to earn 218 FedEx Cup points or USD 347,634 to remain fully exempt.

He came up short in both categories with 155 FedEx Cup points and USD 317,010, but Gay, who was also playing on a medical exemption after back problems, unexpectedly came to the rescue.

"Obviously [it's] quite a relief to know that I can play my schedule and plan my schedule for the rest of 2017," Poulter said after Saturday's third round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

"Being in kind of no-man's-land, not knowing whether you're going to play golf, is very tough."

Gay had earned enough money to retain his card but not sufficient points to qualify for the Players Championship, which prompted him to discover a difference between the way points were allotted this season compared to a year ago.

The new structure offered significantly fewer points for players finishing between 15th and 68th, a scenario which the PGA Tour said "unintentionally made it more difficult for these players to retain their exempt status."

"The spirit of the medical extension has always been to provide the same opportunity a player would have had if he had not been injured to retain his card, and in this case the bar was moved significantly," the PGA Tour said in a statement.