After a day on which Grégory Bourdy had at first seemed to throw away his chance of victory at the Portuguese Open, the Frenchman yesterday emerged triumphant at the third extra hole of a three-man play-off involving David Howell, of England, and Alastair Forsyth, of Scotland.

It was the third play-off in as many weeks on the European Tour — after Forsyth’s victory over Hennie Otto in Madeira and Thomas Levet’s defeat of Oliver Fisher at the Andalusia Open — and it secured Bourdy’s second victory on the tour and a first prize of £165,000.

Bourdy, who led Forsyth by four shots and Howell by six at the start of the final round at Oitavos Dunes in Estoril, was in dire straits after dropping three shots in an outward half of 39, while all around him were racking up birdies. At one point, five players were tied for the lead and Bourdy was not one of them. But he fought back valiantly — coming home in 31 for a round of 70 and an 18-under-par total of 266 — and simply refused to be beaten.

It was at the second extra hole (the par-four 18th) of the play-off that the 25-year-old Frenchman must have felt it was going to be his day after all. Forsyth had taken himself out of contention after finding bushes with a wayward tee shot, but, with Howell lying two feet away from the hole in three, Bourdy needed to roll in a curling 12-foot putt to stay in the hunt. The putt did not look like missing.

With Bourdy on the putting surface in two at the next hole (the 17th), Howell missed the green with his approach shot, failed to get the ball close with his third and narrowly missed his putt for par. After running his first putt close, Bourdy had a virtual tap-in for victory and he made no mistake.

Howell, who has dropped from being No 9 in the world to No 237 in less than two years, can expect a substantial improvement when the rankings are updated today. The Englishman looked good off the tee and on the greens, and did not drop a shot in a final round of 64 to go with his earlier rounds of 67, 68 and 67.

Howell has recently changed coaches and is fit again after a miserable 2007 in which he was afflicted with neck, back and wrist injuries. He will be hoping this is the start of better things, a move back towards the world’s top 50 and a third appearance in the Ryder Cup this year. Things are looking up.

Leading final scores

(Great Britain and Ireland unless stated)

266: G Bourdy (Fr) 63, 65, 68, 70; D Howell 67, 68, 67, 64; A Forsyth 65, 69, 66, 66 (Bourdy won play-off at third extra hole).

267: M Tunnicliff 69, 69, 63, 66.

268: G Fernández-Castaño (Sp) 64, 66, 72, 66. 269: D McGrane 67, 69, 67, 66.

271: C Schwartzel (SA) 65, 70, 66, 70; P McGinley 69, 68, 67, 67.

272: S Webster 67, 66, 70, 69; P Baker 67, 69, 69, 67; J M Lara (Sp) 64, 70, 70, 68; S Khan 65, 67, 72, 68; J Edfors (Swe) 68, 68, 69, 67; A McLardy (SA) 66, 68, 72, 66.

273: R McIlroy 69, 67, 66, 71; D Drysdale 71, 67, 66, 69; S Kjeldsen (Den) 69, 65, 68, 71; P Martín (Sp) 63, 71, 69, 70; O Fisher 68, 65, 74, 66.

274: F Aguilar (Chile) 68, 68, 71, 67; L Slattery 66, 68, 68, 72; U van den Berg (SA) 69, 71, 69, 65; M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 69, 71, 67, 67.

275: G Paddison (NZ) 68, 68, 68, 71; J A Larsen (Nor) 68, 72, 66, 69; M Erlandsson (Swe) 69, 66, 71, 69; D Dixon 68, 68, 70, 69; D Clarke 68, 70, 69, 68; T Levet (Fr) 67, 64, 72, 72.