Rory McIlroy's stunning 62 was not enough to snatch the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, with Aaron Rai prevailing in a play-off against Tommy Fleetwood after an absorbing final round.
McIlroy started the day six shots off leader Rai, but he gobbled up the gap to get to 24-under, a birdie on the 18th bringing him to 10-under for the day.
Fleetwood and Rai found birdies to keep McIlroy at bay, the pair finishing on 25-under to move onto a play-off.
Rai had come agonisingly close to winning it in regulation when his birdie putt on the last rolled millimetres past the cup.
He didn't have to wait long for victory however as he held his nerve to win to beat Fleetwood on the first play-off hole.
The 30-year-old sunk a birdie from just over eight feet to emulate his only previous Rolex Series win at the 2020 Scottish Open - which was also a play-off win over Fleetwood.
Rai went into the final round with a one-shot lead over Fleetwood and Nicolai Hojgaard, and emerged with a total of 263 after a topsy-turvy, five-under final round that included seven birdies and two bogeys.
He missed a 10-foot putt to win it on the last and see off Fleetwood, who had moved one shot clear with two to play after a birdie on the 16th, but ultimately had to settle for parity after a six-under final round of 66.
McIlroy left himself just too much to do, coming up one shot short in a tie for third place with Hojgaard, after a stunning 10-under final round of 62, comprising eight birdies and an eagle - his lowest ever round on the DP World Tour.
Hojgaard fired six birdies but his hopes of topping the leaderboard were hit by a bogey on the 12th. England's Richard Mansell hit an excellent final round 63 to finish tied for fifth place with Australia's Daniel Hillier.
