Collin Morikawa birdied five of the last seven holes to win the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai on 17 under par and clinch the European Tour’s season-long Race to Dubai title.

Overnight leader Rory McIlroy faded late to finish tied sixth.

Morikawa becomes the first American to win the European Tour’s money list.

It caps a stunning season for the 24-year-old, who secured his second major title at the Open Championship in July after winning the WGC-Workday Championship in February.

“It’s very special and an honour,” Morikawa told Sky Sports. “To be the first American to do that [win the money list], to put my name against many greats, hall of famers, it’s special.

“To have this chance and close it out with a win in the DP World Tour Championship, what a great way to finish that.”

He added: “I just kept telling myself to focus. I was excited for this moment, I’ve been telling everyone that the nerves are there but I’m excited.

“I channelled that energy into excitement and wanted to keep hitting good shot after good shot. Putts started dropping and that’s always fun.”

Despite managing only two birdies in his first 13 holes, McIlroy was in a strong position to win the tournament for a third time, holding a one-stroke lead with five holes left.

But after Morikawa birdied the 15th to tie, the Northern Irishman suffered a terrible stroke of bad luck when his short approach to the same hole clattered the pin and rebounded into a bunker.

The 32-year-old bogeyed from there and dropped two more shots in his last three holes in a dispiriting finish to his week.

Morikawa, who started the final round three adrift of McIlroy, admitted in his post-round interview that he had been keeping track of Fitzpatrick’s charge up the leaderboard as the seven-time European Tour winner surged into contention with six birdies in his first 10 holes.

A birdie at the 15th briefly gave Fitzpatrick the outright lead, but his chances suffered a major blow when he found water at the 16th, leading to a bogey.

Fitzpatrick, who came into the week with an outside chance of winning the Race to Dubai title, also dropped a shot at the 17th but closed with a birdie for a round of 66 to finish alongside Sweden’s Bjork on 14 under following a stout defence of his title.

A further shot back was Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, who had moved into contention before dropping three shots in the space of two holes at the 12th and 13th.

The 25-year-old birdied three of his final four holes – bogeying the 17th – to claim a share of fourth place alongside Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard.

But while the other contenders stumbled down the stretch, Morikawa produced a superb run over the last seven holes to close out the tournament – and his season – in style with birdies at the 12th, 14th, 15th, 17th and 18th.

Speaking during his winner’s speech, an emotional Morikawa paid tribute to his late grandfather.

“I lost my grandfather earlier this year, and recently my girlfriend and I were thinking about him,” he said.

“We’re just so lucky to be with the people we have around us. That’s about it, just say thank you and enjoy the time you have with people because you don’t know how much time you will have.”

The tournament marked the end of the European Tour as it will become the DP World Tour from the start of the 2022 season – which begins at the Joburg Open on Thursday – and features a total prize fund in excess of $200m (£147m) across 47 events in 27 countries.