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 victory in the Algarve Portuguese Open.

Price carded a superb final round 64 at Quinta do Lago, just one shot outside the course record, for a 15-under-par total and two-shot victory over Ireland's Padraig Harrington and Germany's Sven Struver.

Scotland's Alastair Forsyth, Spain's Ignacio Garrido and New Zealand's Stephen Scahill shared fourth place on 11 under with Germany's Alex Cejka and Australian Brett Rumford another stroke adrift.

Price, whose only other win also came in the Portuguese Open in 1994 at Penha Longa after a 64 in the first round, 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.

"I've finished second so many times and I was thinking playing the last three holes 'I just don't want to blow this'.

"I've found it very difficult to win events so to get the job done is very pleasing. It's not very nice having the tag of being the man who finishes second all the time although a lot of it has not been my doing - Gary Orr eagled the last in this event last year to beat me and Jose Maria Olazabal eagled the 17th at The Belfry in the Benson and Hedges.

"It's going to be a big boost to my confidence. Winning a tournament was one of my goals and the Ryder Cup is another one as well as climbing up the world rankings."

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 holding a spectator rope and bounce out of bounds on the sixth to run up a double bogey six, 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.

Struver kept Price waiting until almost the last moment to be sure of victory after birdies at the 13th, 14th and 17th gave the German a glimmer of hope but it was asking too much to eagle the 18th and Price could begin celebrating.

"I thought if I could shoot seven or eight under I could have a chance because I played very well yesterday for only two under and this is the kind of course where you can get a run going because you're only hitting short irons in," added Price who contemplated playing more in America this season before the arrival of son John at the end of last year.

Harrington, meanwhile, was the model of consistency from tee to green, hitting all 18 greens in regulation, but could not rediscover his magic putting touch from his first 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.

"Obviously the four par fives hurt me because I didn't birdie any of them but if you don't see the putts going in you lose a little bit of confidence.

"I'm pleased with my form, though. You can't ask for much more than 18 greens on the final day - all you can ask is to hole a few putts, which I didn't do."

Struver was delighted to have made such a strong finish and competed for his first tournament win since 1998.

"I finished second, which was good, but I didn't really play that great," admitted the 33-year-old from Hamburg. "I was in a bit of shock after the first five holes, when I was all over the place. I had three bogeys and two birdies and didn't make a par until the sixth.

"I didn't really give myself a chance to get going but I was pleased with the way I hung in there and fought back towards the end of the round. For not having been up there for so long it feels nice."

Forsyth would have finished fourth on his own but for a bogey on the last hole after a birdie at the 16th and brilliant eagle on the 17th had put him at 12 under par.

"I had a poor front nine. I actually played okay but it was similar to Saturday, I never got any breaks, never holed any putts and whenever I hit a bad shot I made a bogey," said the 25-year-old from Paisley, who was pipped to the rookie of the year title by England's Ian Poulter last season.

"I kept my head up though and kept plugging away on the back nine and the birdies on 12 and 13 got me going again and I made a great eagle on the 17th with a 320-yard drive and five wood to eight feet.

"I didn't know what Phil was doing at the 18th so I thought I still had a chance but hit my drive too much out of the heel and it went right.

"From the second shot I was allowing for a flier but it came out hotter than I thought and went over the back from where I had a really tough pitch. I did well to get it to eight feet but couldn't knock it in."

Collated scores and totals after final round of Algarve Portuguese Open, Quinta do Lago (Gbr&Irl unless stated, Par 72)

(x) denotes amateurs

273 P Price 72 67 70 64 (£104,330)

275 P Harrington 64 70 71 70, S Struver (Ger) 70 70 65 70 (£54,371 each)

277 A Forsyth 68 68 72 69, I Garrido (Spa) 69 68 70 70, S Scahill (Nzl) 70 69 66 72 (£26,851 each)

278 A Cejka (Ger) 70 73 70 65, B Rumford (Aus) 74 68 67 69 (£17,215each)

279 R Claydon 70 72 71 66, W Bennett 70 70 70 69, D Howell 67 70 69 73, N Fasth (Swe) 66 72 68 73, D Gilford 66 70 69 74, S Dyson 69 69 67 74

280 B Davis 71 71 73 65, M Lundberg (Swe) 70 72 69 69, E Boult (Nzl) 67 73 69 71, R Wessels (Rsa) 73 68 66 73

281 (x) N Dougherty 71 72 71 67, M Lafeber (Ned) 72 71 71 67, S Luna (Spa) 71 70 72 68, R Green (Aus) 71 72 69 69, D Park 70 71 69 71, P Sjoland (Swe) 67 72 70 72, A Hansen (Den) 68 71 69 73, T Immelman (Rsa) 68 73 67 73

282 P Quirici (Swi) 73 71 71 67, H Otto (Rsa) 71 73 70 68, G Turner (Nzl) 69 74 69 70, J Robinson 71 68 72 71, N Colsaerts (Bel) 71 70 70 71, H Stenson (Swe) 70 73 68 71, A Coltart 75 68 68 71, M Brier (Aut) 70 72 69 71, R Chapman 68 70 72 72, J Haeggman (Swe) 68 72 68 74

283 G Havret (Fra) 71 72 75 65, D Botes (Rsa) 73 69 71 70, S Kjeldsen (Den) 73 70 69 71, P McGinley 71 69 70 73, R Byrd (USA) 72 71 67 73, M Mackenzie 70 72 68 73, R Gonzalez (Arg) 68 71 68 76

284 D Higgins 66 77 72 69, H Nystrom (Swe) 72 71 71 70, S Webster 69 74 70 71, I Woosnam 74 70 69 71, J Bickerton 69 73 70 72, J Sandelin (Swe) 72 71 69 72, P Fowler (Aus) 71 69 71 73, A Forsbrand (Swe) 70 69 71 74, F Cea (Spa) 71 73 66 74

285 M Scarpa (Ita) 76 66 74 69, J Rose 70 71 74 70, B Dredge 72 71 71 71, M Blackey 68 75 71 71, M Mouland 70 70 73 72, R Russell 72 71 69 73, G Rojas (Arg) 72 69 70 74

286 J Rystrom (Swe) 71 73 74 68, D Lynn 66 75 76 69, M Gronberg (Swe) 72 71 74 69, J Hobday (Rsa) 70 70 76 70, M Davis 70 74 72 70, TJ Munoz (Spa) 68 75 70 73, P Eales 74 70 69 73

287 M Pinero (Spa) 75 68 72 72, D Hospital (Spa) 70 73 72 72, H Kuehne (USA) 71 69 73 74, P Streeter 72 72 68 75, J Berendt (Arg) 68 75 68 76

288 I Poulter 67 76 75 70, A Oldcorn 70 74 72 72, R Winchester 69 74 71 74

289 (x) N Campino (Por) 72 71 74 72, (x) D Price 70 73 72 74, K Ferrie 68 74 70 77

290 C Cevaer (Fra) 71 70 76 73, A Raitt 70 74 73 73, SP Webster 70 74 71 75

291 C Hainline (USA) 72 69 73 77

293 J Rivero (Spa) 70 74 76 73