Harrington caught by Price's birdie blitz

Welshman Phillip Price strengthened his bid for a Ryder Cup place by ending his seven year wait for a second European Tour title with a brilliant two shot victory over Padraig Harrington and Germany's Sven Struver in the Algarve Portuguese Open yesterday.

Price carded a superb final round 64 at Quinta do Lago, just one shot outside the course record, for a 15-under-par total while Harrington failed to repeat the magic of his opening round 64. "I had 34 putts, which is just too many to have a realistic chance of winning," said Harrington, who has now finished second three times already this season.

"I hit 18 greens and if somebody told me I was going to play tee to green the way I did I would have been thrilled but I should have had a much better score."

Scotland's Alastair Forsyth, Spain's Ignacio Garrido and New Zealand's Stephen Scahill shared fourth place on 11 under. Paul McGinley finished with a one over par 73 for a five under total of 283 while David Higgins returned to form with a three under par 69 and a total of 284.

Price, whose only other win also came in the Portuguese Open in 1994 collected the first prize of £104,000 to move up to sixth place in the Ryder Cup standings, while Harrington moved above Lee Westwood into second.

"I think I'm relieved more than anything," admitted Price, who finished eighth on the Order of Merit last season on the back of four second-place finishes, including one behind Tiger Woods in the NEC Invitational.

Five players began the day tied for the lead on 11 under par with Price four behind in joint 15th after rounds of 72, 67 and 70. But it did not take long for the 34-year-old from Pontypridd to make an impression with five birdies in his first six holes taking him into the lead at 12 under par.

A bogey on the seventh, where he missed from seven feet for par, briefly halted his charge and allowed Yorkshire's Simon Dyson to move into the lead on 13 under with birdies on the second and fourth.

Dyson fell back, however, when he was extremely unlucky to see his drive hit a stake and bounce out of bounds on the sixth, and when Price birdied the 10th, 13th and 14th to move to 14 under he was two ahead of Harrington who had made just one birdie, on the ninth.

Three putts from 20 feet on the 15th for a bogey from Price gave the chasing pack hope but he immediately made amends by chipping in for a birdie from just off the green on the 16th and then pitched to within a foot of the hole on the 17th to effectively seal victory.

Harrington had birdied the 13th to keep in touch but when he failed to birdie the par-five 17th he had to settle for his 12th runners-up finish in just five and half years on tour.