Rory McIlroy suffered desert disaster for the second time in two months when he carved his three-wood approach into the water at the 18th and missed out on a playoff for the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic.

The world number eight, who bogeyed three of his last four holes to lose the November's DP World Tour Championship to Collin Morikawa, holed five clutch putts between 12 and 30 feet to hit the front at the Emirates Golf Club on 12-under par.

But as eventual champion Viktor Hovland finished birdie-eagle birdie to join McIlroy in the lead with a 66, Richard Bland joined them with a bride birdie finish after a 68.

The pressure was on McIlroy to deliver the kind of finish he needs to regain the confidence that made him a four-time major winner.

But needing to play the last two holes in one-under to match Pádraig Harrington with 15 DP World Tour wins and join Ernie Els as only the second man to win the title three times, he didn't deliver.

First, he hooked his tee shot into bushes at the 359-yard 17th and opting not to take a drop, slashed his hit-and-hope second 30 yards into the rough from where he produced a sensational pitch to 30 inches to save par.

With Bland knocking in a 22 footer at the 18th to join McIlroy and Hovland on 12-under, McIlroy needed a four at the last to win and a par-five to make it a three-man playoff.

But his course management skill let him down badly and after hitting a three-wood into the middle of the fairway on the 564-yard 18th, he opted to go for the green in two from 267 yards with the wind into his face.

His three-wood approach sailed miles right into the water and while he gave himself a 16 footer for par after a penalty drop, he lipped out low and took six.

A closing 71 forced him to settle for third on 11-under and reflect on his goal for the season -- to pull off shots under pressure coming down the back nine on Sunday.

"That's when you really find out what you're made of and whether you can repeat the swing and hit the shots under pressure when you need to," McIlroy said in Abu Dhabi last week.

"And I guess that's a successful year to me. If I get myself in that position a lot of times, and I feel comfortable and I feel like I can hit those shots under the pressure, I know that I'm doing the right things."

Hovland, who was six behind starting the day, went on to beat Bland with a birdie on their return to the 18th for the playoff, two-putting from 40 feet as the English veteran pitched to eight feet but missed his birdie putt.

When he finished, he said: "Rory is a pretty good player, so I'm thinking he's going to close this one off. If not, I'll be ready to play in a playoff. But looks like he's got this one."

After winning the playoff for his third win in his last five outings to go to third in the world, Hovland added: "This is pretty wild. I didn't really think this was possible going in today. I knew I had to shoot a really low number, but a lot of things had to go my way, and I am thankful that they did."

He added: "I'm pumping right now. It's a little bit surreal, and it's hard to kind of calm yourself a little bit, but you've just got to rely on kind of all the shots that you hit and just go back to kind of what you know.

Veteran Harrington (50) tied ninth on seven-under after a 72.

The Dubliner got to within a shot of the lead with early birdies at the third and fifth, but after making four bogeys, he birdied the last to clinch his first top 10 of the year.

Shane Lowry had high hopes of sneaking a top-10 finish after his third round 68 but mixed three birdies with two bogeys in a 71 and tied for 24th on one-under.

As for McIlroy, the four-time major winner went into the final round two shots behind South African Justin Harding but produced an impressive display with the putter, knocking in five crucial putts between 12 and 30 feet to career a 15th DP World Tour win before that messy finish.

While he bogeyed the first hole, the Co Down man hit a spectacular approach from the desert at the sixth to 20 feet and made the birdie putt to get to within a shot of the leader, then drained a 30 footer for a two at the seventh to join Harding at the top.

The title could have got away from as early as the par-five 10th, where he hit his tee shot left into the desert and was eventually forced to take a penalty drop after hacking his attempted recovery into more scrub.

But after firing his 200-yard fourth over the putting surface and almost chipping through the green with his fifth, he slotted home a 13 footer for par, clenching his fist in celebration.

The big turning point came at the 170-yard 11th where he rammed in a 25 footer for a two as leader Harding took five to get down from the back bunker and ran up a disastrous, triple-bogey six, eventually carding a 76 to finish four shots outside the playoff on eight-under.

Now one stroke clear of Richard Bland on 11-under, McIlroy saw Ryder Cup teammate Hovland come from three behind with three to play, finishing birdie-eagle-birdie to set the target at 12-under with a final round 66.

The Norwegian star made a 36 footer for birdie at the 16th, then blasted a 326-yard drive into the heart of the 17th green and made a 34-footer for an eagle two to join McIlroy on 11-under.

McIlroy made a 12 footer for birdie at the par-five 13th to go clear again, but Hovland two-putted the par-five 18th from 40 feet for birdie.

After making pars at the 14th, 15th and 16th, he needed to play the last two holes in one-under, but that poor drive at the 17th and his misjudged three wood at the 18th proved costly.

Hovland (24) has now won in three of his last five starts and he's clearly got the game to become world number one.

"Yeah, I'm pumping right now," the new world number three said. "It's a little bit surreal, and it's hard to kind of calm yourself a little bit, but you've just got to rely on kind of all the shots that you hit and just go back to kind of what you know."

Asked if he can now trouble the game's top two, Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa, he added: "I have quite a lot to prove to be able to beat those guys, but this is a good start, and we'll see what happens."