NICK Dougherty has kept himself in eighth in the European Ryder Cup rankings after a strong showing in the Celtic Manor Welsh Open.

The Chorley golfer finished a creditable sixth after a birdie-eagle finish for a 68, which left him 13-under for the tournament - nine shots behind eventual winner Scott Strange.

The 31-year-old from Perth, never previously higher than 10th on European soil and ranked only 164th in the world, showed himself to be a front-runner of real substance on the new course built to stage the 2010 Ryder Cup.

Never caught from the moment he opened with a 63 on Thursday, Strange produced a flawless closing 64, the joint best of the day, to win with a staggering 22 under par total of 262.

Karlsson, third in his previous three events, also shot 64 but finished four shots back in second place, while Darren Clarke's 66 - it promised to be so much better the way he started - lifted him from 14th into a tie for fourth, albeit a distant nine strokes adrift of Strange.

"I looked up and thought I was doing okay, but those guys were making birdies all over the place," said the Ulsterman after giving his Ryder Cup bid another big lift following his victory in China in April.

"The course is not that easy, but they are obviously making it look very easy."

Clarke, the only player to have two rounds of 60 in European Tour history, birdied five of the first seven holes to be only three behind, but a shocking five-iron into the water on the short 13th was effectively the end of his challenge for the £300,000 first prize.

Karlsson, lying joint third overnight, was the next to test the leader's character, six successive birdies around the turn making it eight in all for the tall Swede.

That cut Strange's advantage to two, but with a matching outward 31 and then further birdies on the 11th and 14th the two-time Asian Tour winner re-established his command and it was pretty much game over.

Colin Montgomerie's closing 72 dropped him to 58th of the 73 who made the cut and means he has still not had a top-40 finish in strokeplay since January.

A ninth Ryder Cup cap looks further away than ever.