RORY MCILROY LET a €300,000 win slip through his fingers with a disappointing finish at the Dubai Desert Classic.

McIlroy tumbled down a packed leaderboard with a two-over par 74, finishing in a tie for ninth as defending champion Stephen Gallacher came out on top again.

Gallacher dropped four shots on the front nine but clawed his way back to finish on level par for the day and 16-under for the tournament, a shot clear of Argentina’s Emliano Grillo.

The win marks the first time that a player has successfully defended the Dubai title in the tournament’s 25 years.

Gallacher’s early wobble left McIlroy, who opened with six straight pars, out in the lead on 14-under.

But the world number six dropped his first shot of the day when he found water on the par-three seventh and then followed up with another bogey on the 10th.

A 15-foot birdie on 11 kept McIlroy right in the hunt but his challenge petered out with back-to-back bogeys on 12 and 13 as Gallacher powered home.

See the final leaderboard in full here >

Here’s what happens to Super Bowl shirts that name the wrong champion