Rose looked set for a remarkable third win in succession to seal a second Race to Dubai title when he led by a shot with seven holes to play, only to bogey three of the next five.

That left the Olympic champion needing to eagle the last to overhaul Fleetwood, but his long-range attempt slid past the hole as Fleetwood looked on alongside his fiancee Clare and their seven-week-old son.

Rose had to settle for a tie for fourth on 17 under par, two shots behind European Tour rookie of the year Rahm, who secured his second victory of the season thanks to a closing 67.

The 23-year-old, who only turned professional in June last year, finished a shot ahead of Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Ireland's Shane Lowry, whose 63 equalled the lowest round of the week.

Masters champion Sergio Garcia and the South Africa duo of Dean Burmester and Dylan Frittelli were alongside Rose, with Fleetwood in a tie for 21st after a final round of 74.

"It's the biggest day of my career for sure. The emotions were difficult on me because I don't trust computers, so even when everything had finished, it was so difficult to get up or down," said Fleetwood.

"Then I felt for Justin a lot, you know, because I’d seen him when he came in. I think how gracious he was shows a lot about his character.

“I'll always be the 2017 Race to Dubai No 1. It's a very big thing to achieve. I'm hoping I can go on and win more of these and we all know how much importance us players put on the Majors and WGCs. I’d love to have a couple of those by the time I’m done too.

"Sergio won three times this year, including the Masters. Justin won back-to-back recently. Jon Rahm won two Rolex Series Events, and I was the one that was at the head of it all. It’s been an amazing year."

Less than 18 months after turning professional, Rahm, 23, finds himself ranked fourth in the world after his third win of the season.

"I've been saying all week what I've done this year, especially on the European Tour to go from no status to an affiliate member and now to win two Rolex Series events, it's something unbelievable," Rahm said.

"When you accomplish something in life, it's always a great feeling. When you do something that really wasn't a goal and you accomplish something that was years down the road, is just such an incredible feeling.

"I was a little anxious before teeing off for whatever reason. I really wanted to win. I had not been in contention really since New York in the FedEx Cup.

"I wanted it really bad and I couldn't calm down going out to the course. Putts weren't dropping but when I birdied 10 I'm like, 'Okay, this is a good moment'.

"That was followed by about three or four horrible iron shots but I managed to make pars and when I made that birdie putt on 14 I was tied for the lead. I took advantage of a lucky bounce on 16 and thankfully that was enough."

Rose, meanwhile, was left to reflect on what might have been and said: "There was no margin for error and I knew that, one shot lead on a day like today on a scoreable golf course – it’s the kind of courser where you can get out early, fresh greens, no wind and you can really post a number.

"I’ve done it in the past and shot a 62 on a Sunday here so you always know there’s a possibility of someone coming through the pack.

"I came out today knowing I needed to stay positive, stay aggressive, keep the pedal down and I obviously played a great front nine. I was in the moment, I was really calm about things and it just shows, it’s a knife-edge sometimes. I’m proud of the effort I gave at the end of the year."

Jon Rahm receives the trophy

Final collated scores and totals

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72)

269 Jon Rahm (Spa) 69 68 65 67

270 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 69 67 67 67, Shane Lowry 69 70 68 63

271 Dean Burmester (Rsa) 70 68 65 68, Justin Rose 66 70 65 70, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 69 67 65, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 71 68 63 69

272 Julian Suri (USA) 68 68 68 68, Tyrrell Hatton 72 63 69 68

273 Peter Uihlein (USA) 71 68 65 69, Patrick Reed (USA) 65 72 68 68

274 Matthew Fitzpatrick 67 67 72 68

275 Haotong Li (Chn) 72 69 67 67, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 75 67 68 65, Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 72 65 68, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 71 70 67 67

276 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 69 71 68 68, Ross Fisher 71 68 68 69, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 67 71 67 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 72 67 69

277 Tommy Fleetwood 73 65 65 74, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 70 70 69 68, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 73 69 66 69

278 David Lipsky (USA) 70 72 64 72

279 Paul Dunne 67 70 67 75, Callum Shinkwin 72 69 66 72, Jordan Smith 75 67 71 66

280 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 72 67 71, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 71 70 70 69, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 67 71 73 69

281 Paul Waring 70 74 70 67, Ian Poulter 70 69 70 72, Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 71 68 70, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 67 75 70 69, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 71 66 73

282 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 68 69 70 75, Richie Ramsay 72 72 68 70, Alexander Levy (Fra) 67 76 70 69, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 74 68 69 71, David Horsey 68 76 68 70, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 70 77 69 66

283 David Drysdale 73 72 69 69, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 71 69 70 73

284 Joost Luiten (Ned) 73 70 71 70

285 Alex Noren (Swe) 74 69 70 72, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 71 76 71 67, Scott Jamieson 76 71 66 72

286 Scott Hend (Aus) 66 71 71 78, Andy Sullivan 68 76 69 73, Marc Warren 72 76 68 70, Eddie Pepperell 75 70 66 75

287 Graeme Storm 76 74 66 71, Lee Westwood 75 73 68 71

288 Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 73 77 67 71

292 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 68 76 72 76, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 69 70 74 79

293 Chris Wood 70 74 70 79

294 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 75 74 68 77, George Coetzee (Rsa) 70 76 75 73, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 74 74 72 74

Day three report

Justin Rose is on course to clinch the most remarkable Race to Dubai title in European Tour history after claiming a slender lead in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.

Rose was a distant 10th on the money list until earning 2.3million points with back-to-back wins in China and Turkey and a third straight victory in Dubai would see him end the season as European number one for a second time.

The Olympic champion carded a third round of 65 at Jumeirah Golf Estates to finish 15 under par, a shot ahead of playing partner Jon Rahm and South Africa's Dylan Frittelli, whose 63 was the lowest score of the week.

And, although Race to Dubai leader Tommy Fleetwood overcame a slow start to match Rose's score and remain two behind alongside Dean Burmester and Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Rose has the upper hand in what has become a thrilling battle.

Sky Bet's latest outright odds

Justin Rose - 6/4

Jon Rahm - 7/2

Tommy Fleetwood -10/1

Dylan Frittelli - 12/1

Tyrrell Hatton - 14/1

Odds correct as of 1330 18/11/17

"You couldn't have scripted it much better," Rose said after a round containing seven birdies and a crucial par save on the 18th, where his approach found the water in front of the green.

"Tommy's last two rounds have been incredible and he is right there should I make any kind of mistake. He is doing everything he has to do and I'm doing the same, so it's perfectly set up for Sunday.

"Tommy's had the pressure of leading all year and I played with a lot of freedom because I had nothing to lose. Does that change now? I just see it as a great opportunity and the course doesn't know I've won two in a row.

"When I step on the first tee tomorrow that's irrelevant."

Tommy Fleetwood

Fleetwood, who also features in Sky Bet's final round Price Boost, came into the week with a lead of 256,738 points and has recovered from an opening 73 with consecutive rounds of 65, with Saturday's effort including eight birdies in the last 11 holes and a back nine of 30.

"I will be gutted if I don't win, but made up for Justin because he will deserve it," Fleetwood, 26, said. "It's been an absolute pleasure trying to win a Race to Dubai coming down these last few weeks.

"It's a massive thing, the biggest thing I've ever tried to achieve. I was in contention in the US Open and in (the WGC event) in Mexico, but they were like one or two rounds. This has been all year and it's come down to the final event.

"A year and a half ago I was absolutely nowhere in the game, I was a bit lost. This is a different pressure to Wentworth last year (the BMW PGA Championship) when I didn't want to play because I was scared I would not get it off the first tee.

"This is what you practise for and this is what you play for, but having my seven-week old baby here will do a good job of keeping my mind off it."

On a day of low scoring which saw Eddie Pepperell criticise the course set-up as "too easy" after his own 66, overnight leader and defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick was one of only six players in the 60-man field who failed to break par.

Fitzpatrick could only manage a level-par 72 to fall five shots off the pace.

Day two report

History is on course to repeat at the DP World Tour Championship after young English duo Matthew Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton moved up the leaderboard on Friday.

A year ago, Hatton led the event playing the final hole but ran up a bogey six, allowing Fitzpatrick to steal the title away from him with a birdie at the closing par-five.

And it's Fitzpatrick who again holds sway at the halfway stage, his back-to-back 67s enough to post the halfway target at 10-under as he seeks a fifth European Tour title, which Sky Bet make him 100/30 to secure.

Hatton (4/1), though, was the star of round two, his sensational 63 some nine shots better than a lacklustre 72 on Friday. Even so, a bogey at the last again proved costly, this time denying him the course record which a birdie would have secured, but he'll have the consolation of moving into a clear second behind his rival.

"Obviously if you said at the start of the day I would shoot nine-under, I would be over the moon," said Hatton. "It was a pretty bitter pill to swallow on 18 though. That hole seems to hate me. Hopefully one day I'll actually play it well."

Saturday will see the pair tee-off together in the final group but much of the focus will be on another all-English battle, with Justin Rose (4/1) and Tommy Fleetwood (25/1) jostling for position atop the Race To Dubai standings.

Rose, who began round two one shot off the lead and seven ahead of Fleetwood, saw that lead cut to two after his young rival stepped up a gear to card a round of 65 which came to an end just as Rose was about to tee off at the first.

Rose went on to shoot a frustrating 70 after making a hash of the final hole, running up a bogey six having taken four shots from just right of the green, and is two off the lead with 36 holes remaining as he seeks a third win in a row, which would see him leapfrog Fleetwood and win the Race To Dubai.

As things stand, though, Fleetwood is clinging onto first place in the projected standings despite sitting just outside the top 10 in a share of 11th.

Back into the #RaceToDubai lead. ✍🏻

For now...#DPWTC #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/Xx8b4lZlDI
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 17, 2017

"There's still a tournament to play for and there's still a Race To Dubai to play for," Fleetwood told europeantour.com. "So there's two things going on and you've just got to concentrate on one, which is kind of each day as it comes and try and do your best in the tournament.

"But I needed a low one today for sort of both purposes, maybe. The only thing that you can control is the tournament in a way. Race To Dubai, I can't do anything about the maths or what Justin does or anything.

"So the sole focus was to try to get back into this event today. I knew I needed a low one."

Round one leader Patrick Reed (9/1) was another to make a late mistake as he fell into a big group at seven under, with compatriot Julian Suri (20/1) going the other way to sit alongside Rose and Kiradech Aphibarnrat (14/1) in a share of third.

Sky Bet boosted the odds of Reed or Jon Rahm (9/1) to win the title to 9/2, the latter having made a move on the back nine to lie three off the pace.

Day one report

American Patrick Reed overcame a back injury to lead after the first round of the DP World Championship in Dubai as Justin Rose took a massive step closer to a remarkable Race to Dubai triumph.

Reed, a 6/1 with Sky Bet to go on and win the title, carded a flawless 65 at Jumeirah Golf Estates to finish seven under par, a shot ahead of Rose and Australia's Scott Hend, with defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick part of a six-strong group on five under.

Rose, who is into 9/4 favourite after his impressive first round showing, was a distant 10th in the money list until claiming more than 2.3million points with back-to-back victories in China and Turkey and came into the week trailing long-time leader Tommy Fleetwood by 256,738.

That means the Olympic champion needs at least a top-five finish to overhaul Fleetwood, whose 73 suffered hugely in comparison with another superb display from playing partner Rose.

Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood shake hands before the opening round in Dubai

"It looks worse and feels worse," Fleetwood admitted. "He played flawless golf. I don't know how long he's going to keep doing this for but it's doing my head in.

"To do well I have to improve things myself. I can't go out and play my round and then go out and watch him and hope he doesn't do very well."

Fleetwood admitted he was feeling the pressure as he double-bogeyed the first and dropped another shot on the third, but an eagle on the seventh helped him get back to level par before a three-putt bogey on the 17th.

Rose's only bogey also came via a three-putt on the ninth, but the 37-year-old holed out from a bunker on the 14th for an eagle in a back nine of 31 and admitted he was now the man to catch.

"It's probably shifted but tomorrow could be a whole other day," Rose said.

"This was not really on the radar a month ago. That's the perspective that I have to keep because it's an opportunity for me. (It would) certainly be easy to start to think about it now as being in my hands, but I think for me it's still a bonus at this point.

Ryder Cup star Reed might have something to say about that, with the world number 23 intent on making the most of his surprise place in the field.

Reed thought he had not played enough events to retain his European Tour membership, only to be told that the Presidents Cup counted towards the requirement of five.

"I feel like the hard work I did with my coach right after missing the cut in Mexico really paid off," Reed said. "I felt like the swing was right where it needed to be and I woke up this morning and had this really awful pain in my back, close to my shoulder.

"The warm-up wasn't how I wanted. I was kind of spraying it and then my caddie just looked at me and reminded me, 'Hey, you're a gamer, not a range guy.'

"Any time you can start birdie, birdie it gets you started and I was able to right the ship and make some putts and hit some good shots."