BRADLEY Dredge will return to the European Tour tomorrow for the Algarve Open de Portugal at the Vale de Lobo course.

Fellow Welshman Phil Price will also be in Portugal for the event. Newport-based Price is the defending champion having won last year at the Quinta do Lago course with a stunning final day display which saw him come from four shots behind to win by two shots.

And while Price has been in America, Blackwood's Dredge has returned from a successful two weeks in the Middle East having finished in the top ten in the Dubai Classic and then the Welshman had another high finish in Qatar a week later. Dredge has spent the last couple of weeks working on his short game and trying to get some rhythm going.

"I'm playing in Portugal after having a couple of weeks off and at this stage of the season it's difficult to get a rhythm going," said Dredge.

"I've been practicing my short game because with me the more I practice the better it gets.

"But I'm feeling good at the moment. Overall I'm pleased with the way things are going and my scores are grouping around the 68/69 mark which is where I want my consistency to be.

"Four scores of 68 and your looking at 16 under par which will win a few tournaments and put you up their for most others."

Dredge finished seventh in Dubai, in a field that included Ernie Els, Colin Montgomerie, and Nick Faldo. And the big tournament win against a tough field that Dredge craves for is creeping ever closer.

"Although I was pleased with the result in Dubai I would have liked to have done better, "I felt in good form in Dubai I wasn't hitting the ball that well tee-to-green, but my short game was working well.

and other times you have tough rounds and have to churn out the score. "Being able to churn out the scores when you aren't performing can be the difference between winning and losing and I feel that things are getting better and the win is getting closer."

Should Price triumph again, he would join an exclusive club of players who have won back-to-back Algarve Open de Portugal titles, the other two being current European Ryder Cup Captain Sam Torrance (1982-83) and six time Ryder Cup Englishman Ken Bousfield (1960-61).

Torrance will tee up again, hoping to capitalise on the excellent start he made to The 2002 European Tour season, where he finished in a tie for 12th place in the Dubai Desert Classic, a couple of months after having undergone keyhole surgery for a cartilage problem.

Among the numerous former champions in action this week are the three players who preceded Price onto the winners' rostrum, namely Scotland's Gary Orr and Englishmen Van Phillips and Peter Mitchell, all three winners at Le Meridien Penina.