Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez virtually secured his place in the Ryder Cup with victory in the Algarve Open de Portugal on Sunday.

Jimenez carded a final round 67 at Penina for a 16 under par total and two-shot win over Australia's Terry Price, who equalled the course record set by Robert Karlsson just two hours earlier with a 64.

Ireland's Graeme McDowell and Sweden's Klas Eriksson were a shot further back in third after rounds of 67, with England's David Lynn, Welshman David Park, France's Jean-Francois Remesy and Spain's Ignacio Garrido sharing fifth on 12 under.

It was Jimenez's third victory since the Ryder Cup qualifying race began last year - he also won in Majorca and Bangkok - and, barring an improbable series of results, seals his position in Bernhard Langer's European team to defend the trophy in Michigan in September.

It takes him top of the Order of Merit and the cup standings with more than a million points - Phil Price took the last automatic place three years ago with 858,000 - and will go some way to easing the disappointment of missing out on next week's US Masters after his disqualification from the Qatar Masters last month.

The 40-year-old from Malaga, who was vice-captain to Seve Ballesteros at Valderrama in 1997 and played at Brookline in 1999, refused to accept the Ryder Cup was anything but a "long-term target," but admitted: "It's very important for me to be in the Ryder Cup again.

"The sensations you get at that tournament are something amazing. The spirit is different, something special, and I would love to be there."

Jimenez would not have been at Penina if not for his disqualification in Doha for signing for a wrong score just before he was due to tee off in the final round, five shots off the lead.

He was 53rd in the world rankings and in with a good chance of moving into the top 50 to qualify for the Players Championship and US Masters, and would have also played in the Bellsouth Classic this week instead of Portugal.

But he was denied the chance of playing at Augusta after European Tour senior referee Andy McFee studied television coverage of an incident at the 12th hole of his third round.

Jimenez admitted his ball had moved as he played a practice chip after going over the green. But he felt the ball then came back to its original position and when he told playing partners Brian Davis and Peter Hedblom, they agreed he should continue without penalty.

It was only after the round and after he had signed his scorecard that McFee was made aware of the incident and he and Jimenez studied the video for an hour on Sunday morning, McFee eventually deciding the ball had moved and a penalty should have been applied.

"I lost my chance to play the Masters with what happened before and so now I go home and spend time with my family," added Jimenez, who has won three of his last 11 events.

"You can't compare this with the Masters. You have to take what comes. I am very happy to win the Portuguese Open as it is a victory and for your career it is very important."

Jimenez began the day tied for the lead and birdied the second and fifth to remain at the top of the leaderboard.

Playing partner Lynn looked set to pose the stiffest challenge after moving to 13 under par at the eighth, but the Englishman then ran up a double bogey seven on the 11th after losing his ball in the mud while attempting to escape from the edge of a water hazard.

It fell to Price to set the clubhouse target at 14 under as he stormed home in 31, holing from just two feet on the 18th for a brilliant eagle three.

Jimenez was one clear after a birdie on the 10th but then three-putted the 13th for bogey and needed to hole a curling 25ft putt for birdie on the 16th to edge in front again.

That gave him the luxury of making pars at the last two holes but he sealed victory in style with a superb bunker shot on the 18th for a closing birdie.

Lynn has now had 17 top 10 finishes without tasting victory and the 30-year-old from Stoke joked: "I'm knocking on the door but I think the door is made of lead.

"But it is all good experience and I don't feel out of place. That's the first time I have played with the winner in the final round and it was nice to watch."

As for the double bogey on the 11th, Lynn added: "I couldn't identify the ball in the hazard but the spectators were certain it was the ball and it was sitting okay so I had to have a go.

"I had to clip the ball first and just caught it slightly wrong. I couldn't find it after that but at the end of the day it only cost me one shot."

Price enjoyed his best ever finish in a European Tour event, partly thanks to the superb eagle on the 18th when his 4-iron approach finished just two feet from the flag.

"I thought I needed a 63 and pulled up one short but anytime you shoot 64 you have to be happy," said the 43-year-old Queenslander, whose previous best finish came back in 1995.

"I won the first tournament of the year in the New Zealand Open but I've had a sore neck since then and am just getting over that so hopefully this is a sign of some better things to come."

Collated scores and totals in final round of the European tour, Algarve Open de Portugal, Penina Golf and Resort: (Gbr&Irl unless stated, Par 72):

(x) denotes amateurs

272 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 69 66 70 67 (£139,147pds)

274 Terry Price (Aus) 68 68 74 64 (£92,760)

275 Graeme McDowell 69 70 69 67, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 71 72 65 67 (£47,005 each)

276 Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 70 68 70 68, David Park 70 71 66 69, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 69 67 69 71, David Lynn 71 68 66 71 (£27,635 each)

277 Desvonde Botes (Rsa) 70 70 69 68, Paul Eales 71 69 69 68, Damien McGrane 70 66 72 69, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 71 67 70 69, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 71 70 67 69, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 68 74 66 69, Gregory Havret (Fra) 67 72 68 70

278 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 69 70 75 64, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 71 71 65, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 74 68 70 66, Sam Walker 68 71 71 68, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 74 69 66 69, Mark Roe 70 69 69 70, Peter Lawrie 66 71 70 71

279 Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 67 71 76 65, Nick Dougherty 72 68 73 66, Jamie Spence 71 72 70 66, Gabriel Canizares (Spa) 67 75 70 67, Sebastian Fernandez (Arg) 72 71 69 67, Soren Hansen (Den) 73 69 69 68, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 70 69 71 69

280 Jamie Elson 73 70 69 68, Andrew Oldcorn 71 71 69 69, Barry Lane 68 71 71 70, Gary Emerson 69 71 70 70, Matthew Cort 69 69 70 72, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 67 71 70 72

281 Richard McEvoy 71 69 75 66, John Mellor 71 70 70 70, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 74 67 70 70, Martin Lemesurier 69 71 70 71, Bradley Dredge 72 70 68 71, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 68 71 70 72, Ian Woosnam 71 66 71 73, Stephen Dodd 67 73 68 73

282 Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 71 70 73 68, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 68 74 72 68, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 72 66 75 69, Gary Orr 70 73 70 69, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 75 68 69 70, Julien Clement (Swi) 70 69 72 71, Kenneth Ferrie 69 72 70 71

283 Chris Gane 70 72 74 67, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 71 72 71 69, Simon Khan 73 68 72 70, Diego Borrego (Spa) 74 68 70 71, David Carter 74 68 69 72, David Dixon 71 72 68 72, Steve Webster 72 66 72 73, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 67 73 70 73

284 Peter Baker 71 70 76 67, Paul Broadhurst 75 68 73 68, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 72 71 72 69, Gary Murphy 69 72 72 71, Philip Walton 68 74 71 71, Raymond Russell 71 71 65 77

285 Fernando Roca (Spa) 73 68 74 70, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 70 72 72

286 Alan McLean 72 68 78 68

287 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 68 74 71 74, David Gilford 72 70 68 77, Andrew Raitt 67 73 67 80

289 Nathan Fritz (USA) 70 73 72 74

293 Raul Ballesteros (Spa) 70 69 76 78, (x) Sam Osborne 72 70 73 78

299 Robert Rock 71 72 76 80