Sweden's Carl Pettersson on Sunday won his first European Tour title in a sudden-death play-off with David Gilford in the Algarve Open de Portugal.

Pettersson parred the first extra-hole to win the first prize of £76,462 and prevent the former Ryder Cup player from regaining the title he won, also in a play-off, in 1993.

Mansfield's Greg Owen, Spain's Miguel Angel Martin and Swede Henrik Nystrom shared third place on one under par at Vale do Lobo.

Pettersson and Gilford both found the 18th fairway in sudden-death, but after the Swede had fired a six-iron onto the putting surface, Gilford pulled his five-iron approach over the back of the green.

The 36-year-old former cattle farmer from Crewe was left with a difficult shot from a heavy lie and could only pitch out to 25 feet, and when he missed the par putt Pettersson safely two-putted for victory.

"It all happened so quickly after we were hanging about all day," said Pettersson, who is still based in North Carolina where he attended college. "I don't think it has sunk in yet.

"It was nice to at least get the play-off in because I like those situations to test myself and see how you perform. I was very nervous, the most nervous I've ever been on a golf course, but I handled it well.

"It's my fourth top-five this year and you need to get up there to feel what it's like and how to control your emotions and your swing. It showed I can handle the pressure."

Pettersson and Gilford had finished tied on two under par after the first two rounds were finally completed at 2pm on Saturday afternoon.

The intention was then to reduce the tournament to 54 holes and play the final 18 on Sunday, but heavy rain overnight and more blustery wind meant only 35 minutes play was possible.

"I had a feeling it was going to be a play-off as soon as I opened my curtains this morning and saw it was still windy," added Pettersson, 24, a former European amateur champion.

"I got to the course about 10am and just sat around talking to Jarmo Sandelin, Mikael Lundberg and Olle Karlsson, my good friends on tour. I'm pretty good at relaxing. I'm extremely lazy."

The decision was eventually made to reduce the event to 36 holes - with 75 per cent of the original prize money awarded - and a play-off was required on the 18th hole to decide the winner, only the second time in European Tour history that an event shortened to 36 holes had to be decided in such a way.

Six other events have been shortened to 36 holes but the first time a play-off was required was in the Celtic Manor Wales Open last year, when Paul McGinley triumphed over Paul Lawrie and Daren Lee on the fifth extra hole to effectively seal his Ryder Cup place.

"This is the best finish I've had for two or three years so I can't be too disappointed really," said Gilford, who finished 144th on the Order of Merit last year and only kept his card by virtue of being in the top 40 on the European Tour's career money list.

"I would have probably taken second if you'd offered it to me at the start of the week. I'm not disappointed with that but I'd have liked longer to practice to be honest.

"Ten minutes isn't really enough because it's always going to be a little bit hit and miss in a play-off, it's 50-50. We were hanging about all day and were rushed a bit in the end really, but it was the same for Carl."

Collated scores and totals in second round of Algarve Open de Portugal, Vale do Lobo, April 4-7:

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

(x) denotes amateurs

142 David Gilford 70 72, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 66 76 (Pettersson won in sudden-death play-off)

143 Greg Owen 72 71, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 73 70, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 72 71

144 Rolf Muntz (Ned) 71 73

145 Diego Borrego (Spa) 77 68, Bradley Dredge 70 75

146 Steve Webster 74 72, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 70 76, Alastair Forsyth 72 74, Gary Emerson 74 72, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 70 76

147 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 79 68, Roger Chapman 74 73, Stephen Dodd 71 76

148 Justin Rose 76 72, Ian Garbutt 73 75, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 75 73, Russell Claydon 76 72, Brian Davis 73 75, Thomas Levet (Fra) 73 75, Van Phillips 72 76, Sam Torrance 75 73, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 72 76, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 73 75, Adam Mednick (Swe) 74 74, Michele Reale (Ita) 72 76, Sam Walker 75 73, Andrew Sherborne 71 77

149 Peter Baker 77 72, Des Smyth 75 74, Steen Tinning (Den) 76 73, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 76 73, Jonathan Lomas 79 70, Gary Orr 76 73, Anders Hansen (Den) 74 75, Marcel Siem (Ger) 75 74

150 Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 77 73, Marc Farry (Fra) 80 70, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 76 74, (x) Zane Scotland 74 76, David Park 77 73, Gary Evans 70 80, David Carter 75 75

151 Malcolm Mackenzie 80 71, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 75 76, Kenneth Ferrie 75 76, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 76 75, Jorge Berendt (Arg) 77 74, Stephen Gallacher 79 72, Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 76 75, Mark Mouland 76 75, Chris Gane 73 78, Mark Foster 76 75, Dennis Edlund (Swe) 77 74, Daren Lee 77 74, Gary Clark 73 78, David Drysdale 74 77

152 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 79 73, Phillip Price 74 78, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 78 74, Markus Brier (Aut) 75 77, Wayne Riley (Aus) 75 77, Andrew Coltart 76 76, Costantino Rocca (Ita) 75 77, Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel) 74 78, Raymond Russell 76 76, Warren Bennett 76 76, Nicolas Kalouguine (Fra) 73 79

153 Mark Roe 80 73, Gregory Havret (Fra) 81 72, Stuart Little 81 72, Matthew Cort 78 75, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 78 75, Olle Karlsson (Swe) 79 74, Johan Skold (Swe) 75 78, Santiago Luna (Spa) 77 76, Gordon Brand Jnr 80 73, Graham Fox 77 76

Missed the cut:

154 Peter Mitchell 78 76, Philip Golding 79 75, David Higgins 75 79, Charley Hoffman (USA) 78 76, James Johnson 75 79, Mattias Nilsson (Swe) 75 79, Paul Dwyer 76 78, Richard Bland 79 75, Didier De Vooght (Bel) 78 76

155 Andrew Oldcorn 78 77, Jeremy Robinson 78 77, Ivo Giner (Spa) 77 78, Gustavo Rojas (Arg) 78 77, Ian Poulter 77 78, Paul Broadhurst 76 79, Erol Simsek (Ger) 76 79

156 Tobias Dier (Ger) 77 79, Steven Richardson 76 80, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 75 81, Peter Fowler (Aus) 81 75, Barry Lane 80 76, Marten Olander (Swe) 74 82

157 Massimo Scarpa (Ita) 84 73, Iain Pyman 78 79, Mark Davis 79 78, Magnus Persson Atlevi (Swe) 76 81, David Lynn 78 79, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 80 77, Grant Hamerton 75 82, Antonio Sobrinho (Por) 79 78

158 Christopher Hanell (Swe) 77 81, Philip Walton 75 83, Andrew Marshall 81 77, Simon Khan 79 79, Elliot Boult (Nzl) 75 83

159 Jean Hugo (Rsa) 79 80, Carl Suneson (Spa) 82 77, Nick Dougherty 79 80, Ian Hutchings (Rsa) 80 79, Andrew Butterfield 78 81, Robert Coles 78 81, Sandeep Grewal 76 83, James Holmes 76 83

160 Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 82 78, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 78 82, (x) Hugo Santos (Por), Jose Dias (Por) 79 81, Massimo Florioli (Ita) 81 79

161 Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 83 78, Graeme Storm 77 84

162 Paul Eales 82 80, Mark Pilkington 75 87

163 Alvaro Salto (Por) 81 82, Roger Winchester 80 83, (x) Filipe Tavares (Por) 82 81, Jose Maria Cazal-Ribeiro (Por) 82 81

164 Joao Pedro Carvalhosa (Por) 80 84

165 Peter Hanson (Swe) 88 77, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 83 82

166 Nelson Cavalheiro (Por) 82 84

169 (x) Ricardo Santos (Por) 85 84

170 Steve Walker 82 88

172 Daniel Silva (Por) 92 80

173 Klas Eriksson (Swe) 91 82

175 Dirk Delfortrie (Ned) 87 88

Rtd: Michael McLean, John Bickerton, Anthony Wall, Christophe Pottier (Fra)

Withdrawn: Simon Dyson, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Sven Struver (Ger), Ronan Rafferty, Stephane Ferreira (Por)