England's Ian Poulter put his Ryder Cup disappointment on hold when he cruised to a comfortable five-shot victory in the Madrid Open.

The 30-year-old carded a three-under-par 69 to finish on 22-under-par 266 and earn a place in the WGC-American Express Championship and a cheque for more than £113,356.

Spain's Ignacio Garrido finished second on 17 under par after a closing 66 with Welshman Phillip Price one stroke further back in third place after a 67.

Ryder Cup-bound Padraig Harrington and Sweden's Christian L Nilsson shared fourth place on 15 under after rounds of 69 and 71.

Poulter's seventh European Tour victory helped him jump from 22nd to 14th in the European Tour Order of Merit, earning him his place in the final World Golf Championship event of the season.

His latest victory came too late to help him make the Ryder Cup side, but Poulter still declared "mission accomplished" in Madrid.

"It's always the way isn't it? The putts went in a couple of weeks too late - c'est la vie," said Poulter, who went 66 holes without making a bogey. "I have been as I have been all year. I didn't get frustrated once but when you roll the putts in you don't get frustrated.

"I wasn't anticipating playing this week but things pan out as they do and I entered a couple of weeks ago and I came here and got my head down.

"I said to Mick, my caddie, that we had a job to do this week and that was to get back into the top 50 of the world rankings, win the golf tournament and get into the Amex in a couple of weeks time."

Leading by four strokes overnight, Poulter's first bogey of the week came at the par-three 13th and while he bounced back with birdies at

the 15th and 16th, he dropped another shot at the short 17th to close with a 69.

The Milton Keynes player was disappointed not to retain his place in the Ryder Cup side, having played a vital role in Europe's record victory at Oakland Hills two years ago.

He added: "I don't think it will soften the blow. This has been a nice week and I am very happy to move up the world rankings but I am still disappointed about next week and I just hope the guys get their heads down and do a great job for us all.

"I came here to do the job and it's good to come and do it."

He added: "While the guys are at the Ryder Cup grinding it out I'll just be hitting a few balls on the range and relaxing.

"If I am sitting in doors, which I don't think I'll be doing all day because that is just a waste of time for me to be doing that.

Darren Clarke left Madrid in his private jet, determined to see his putting take off in the Ryder Cup at the K Club.

The Ulsterman, who was making his first competitive appearance since his wife passed away last month, again blamed his putting after closing with a level-par 72.

The 38-year-old had four birdies and four bogeys in his final round to finish tied for 31st at La Moraleja II on seven under par - 15 shots behind Poulter.

He said: "We will have a different quality of greens next week and a different golf course, which will be nice. I am pleased the with way I am playing and I have played an awful lot better than my scores suggest.

"I am really excited about next week. I have been looking forward to it. Yes, I will be a leader in the team room but there are an awful lot of guys on that team who have a lot of experience as well.

Harrington topped the putting statistics in Madrid after carding a final-round 69 that left him on 15 under par.

But while the Dubliner was happy that he made two eagles and 23 birdies during what he confessed was a warm-up event in Madrid, he is looking forward to three days practice at the K Club.

"I am very happy. The last couple of weeks I have putted well," Harrington said. "Today I was a bit more erratic off the tee but I am actually quite happy with things. I am hitting it strong. I am hitting it the direction I want so I am looking forward to three good days preparation."

Jose Maria Olazabal, who closed with a five-under-par 67 to share eighth place

on 10 under par, hopes to team up with coach Butch Harmon at the K Club to work on his driving ahead of his first Ryder Cup appearance since 1999.

"I scored okay but my driving is still erratic," Olazabal said. "I hit a few fairways but not solid enough. It was just a little battle to get it on the fairway. It has to be fluid.

"At the K Club you have to hit the driver long and straight if you want to have any chance. With all the rain the have had during this week, the golf course is going to play really, really long."

Collated final-round scores and totals (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

266 Ian Poulter 67 66 64 69

271 Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 68 66 71 66

272 Phillip Price 70 67 68 67

273 Christian Nilsson (Swe) 68 66 68 71, Padraig Harrington 67 65 72 69

274 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 67 67 67 73, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 68 68 67 71

275 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 71 70 67 67, Steve Webster 71 68 67 69, David Griffiths 70 69 67 69

276 Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 67 69 67 73, Gary Orr 67 65 70 74, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 72 65 70 69, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 65 69 72 70, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 66 72 70 68

278 David Carter 70 71 65 72, Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 71 67 68 72, Jose Luis Gomez (Spa) 69 70 68 71, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 70 72 68 68, Gary Evans 69 70 65 74, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 70 69 70, Miles Tunnicliff 69 70 72 67

279 Damien McGrane 68 68 74 69, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 66 72 71, David Higgins 70 68 73 68, Ian Garbutt 72 68 68 71

280 Sam Little 72 71 68 69, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 70 66 75 69, Mark Foster 71 68 73 68, Simon Wakefield 74 67 69 70

281 Andrew Butterfield 70 71 69 71, Ross Fisher 70 70 72 69, Darren Clarke 68 72 69 72, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 73 69 72 67, Stephen Gallacher 71 72 66 72, Warren Abery (Rsa) 72 70 69 70, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 69 69 72 71, Richard Finch 69 69 70 73

282 Garry Houston 70 68 74 70, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 72 71 71 68, Johan Skold (Swe) 71 71 69 71, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 72 71 64 75, Peter Lawrie 74 69 69 70, Gary Emerson 69 68 76 69, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 71 69 69 73, Gary Clark 70 71 72 69, Robert Rock 71 70 72 69, Phillip Archer 72 70 72 68, Anders Sjostrand (Swe) 69 69 72 72, Jose Rivero (Spa) 71 68 71 72

283 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 73 67 72 71, Benn Barham 70 71 70 72, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 73 68 70 72, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 71 70 71 71

284 Philip Golding 71 72 71 70

285 Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 69 72 75 69, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 70 68 76, Soren Hansen (Den) 71 69 74 71, John Bickerton 72 67 72 74, Steven O'Hara 71 71 70 73, Stephen Browne 71 72 71 71, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 74 69 73 69, Iain Pyman 68 73 75 69, Alfredo Garcia (Spa) 70 73 70 72

286 Gabriel Canizares (Spa) 70 69 71 76, Francis Valera (Spa) 71 72 74 69, Neil Cheetham 72 70 73 71, Cesar Monasterio (Arg) 73 69 75 69

287 Peter Fowler (Aus) 70 69 76 72

288 Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 70 72 72 74, Carlos De Corral (Spa) 74 68 74 72

289 Jamie Spence 69 72 73 75, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 66 74 77 72, BenoitTeilleria (Fra) 73 70 74 72, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 69 73 74 73

290 David Bransdon (Aus) 69 74 77 70

292 Oliver Wilson 69 70 76 77