ALGARVE, Portugal -- Torrential rains and brutally high winds that gusted to 45 mph prompted the cancellation of Sunday's final round of the World Golf Championships-Algarve World Cup in Portugal.

The Welsh team of Bradley Dredge and Stephen Dodd was declared the winner, and the duo will split the $1.4 million first prize for what both men termed the biggest win of their career. England's Luke Donald and David Howell tied with Sweden's Niclas Fasth and Henrik Stenson for second, two strokes behind the champions, and each team will receive $550,000.

The victory was the first for Wales since the tournament became part of the World Golf Championships in 2000, and only the second in World Cup history. Ian Woosnam, who will captain the European Ryder Cup team in 2005, teamed with David Llewellyn to pick up the other win when they beat the Scottish team of Sandy Lyle and Sam Torrance in a playoff at the 1987 World Cup.

"(It's) obviously huge for us and for golf in Wales," Dredge said. "It would have been nice to play 72, but at the end of the day, a win is a win whether it's 54 or not."

"We would rather have come out on a nice, sunny day and finish it off in style," Dodd agreed. "But we played some really good golf for three days. We were ready to go out there again and put a good score together and try and finish it off. Unfortunately, the weather didn't allow us to do that."

The rain began in earnest around 6 p.m. on Saturday and continued throughout the night and Sunday morning. One scoreboard and three TV towers were blown down in the steady assault. As bad as the conditions were, though, the weather was expected to worsen on Monday, so the decision was made to cancel the $4 million competition that caps off the four-event World Golf Championships series.

Donald had teamed with Paul Casey to win a year ago and was in position for a successful title defense with David Howell at his side this week. Howell, who held off Tiger Woods at the HSBC Champions Trophy a week ago, would aptly term Sunday's weather "disastrous." The Englishmen had grabbed the first-round lead with a magical 59 in Four-balls and maintained it through 36 holes before finally giving way to the Welsh after three rounds.

"Obviously (I'm) a bit disappointed," Donald said. "Happy for Wales -- they played great -- but we would have loved to have gone out there and played 72 holes. We were in a good position, so we didn't come here to finish second. But those decisions, you know, you can't really control the weather, unfortunately.

"Now, I've had the decision where I've been in the lead before (and ended up winning the rain-shortened Southern Farm Bureau Classic in 2002) and it seemed like the best decision. Obviously, I would have loved to have played this time."

The thunderstorms caused extensive flooding at the Arnold Palmer-designed Victoria Clube De Golfe in Vilamoura. Overnight rain on Friday and intermittent showers Saturday had already soaked the course and the third round's Four-ball competition was contested under lift, clean and place conditions.

The Welsh team bolted to the top of the leaderboard at 27 under with a round of 61 on Saturday that matched the French, who finished fourth, for the day's low. England and Sweden both shot 63s. Denmark was fifth at 21 under while the Netherlands and Argentina, which shot a tournament-record 61 in Friday's Foursomes, tied for sixth at 20 under.

"It was fortunate that we managed to have a good finish at the end of the day and keep ourselves ahead," Dredge said.

Particularly fortunate, indeed, considering the fact that Dredge found the water on each of the last two holes on Saturday -- putting even more pressure on Dodd to perform. Dodd, a six-time winner on the European Tour, proceeded to hit his 3-wood on the green at the par-5 17th and two-putt for birdie, then closed out the round with a routine par that preserved the advantage.

"He hit two great shots and that was some pressure," Dredge said. "It's nice to be able to rely on your partner, step up there and make two good swings that both landed in the middle of the green."

Despite the somewhat forbidding weather forecast, Donald said he never anticipated that the tournament might be shortened to 54 holes as the third round was winding to a conclusion.

"We were just trying to play as well as we could all day yesterday -- all week, really," said Donald, who will complete his 2005 campaign by playing in the Nedbank Golf Challenge and Target World Championship. "Disappointing, but the way the cookie crumbles sometimes."