McIlroy has won the DP World Tour Championship twice before and never finished worse than 11th in seven appearances at Jumeirah Golf Estates, but found himself outside the top 20 after a third round of 68.
The world number two, whose opening 75 was his first over-par score in the £6.4million season-ending event, was left to rue a number of missed opportunities before a bogey on the last after hitting his approach into the creek which runs the length of the hole.
“I think I turned a 62 into a 68 somehow,” McIlroy said. “I hit a lot of good shots and didn’t really hole many putts and it was the story of the day with what happened on 18.
“(I hit) a great drive, second shot had 207 (yards) to the pin into the wind. Maybe just was a little too aggressive with it and pulled it slightly and just got punished for a bad shot.
