DAVID Howell was left to reflect on a disappointing weekend at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship as he slipped outside the top 30 on the final day today.

Howell, whose hopes of winning the €400,000 first prize nose-dived yesterday as he dropped three shots in the front nine of his third round, carded a pair of 73s in his final two rounds to finish tied 35th in the Middle East.

The Swindon ace was well in contention after finishing his delayed second round on Saturday morning, lying at seven under par, but when played was stopped because of darkness yesterday evening, had slipped back to four under par with three bogeys in his first nine holes.

The 40 year old repaired some of that damage when third-round play resumed this morning, picking up three birdies with one dropped shot to get himself back to six under heading into the final 18 holes.

He started his final round superbly, with a birdie at his opening hole, but his erratic scoring continued, as dropped shots at the third and ninth and birdies and the short fourth and seventh holes saw him to the turn in 35.

Bogeys at the long 10th and 18th holes book-ended a disappointing back nine, another shot going at the 16th with just a solitary birdie at the 13th the only highlight as he ended at five under par overall.

Rickie Fowler produced two moments of magic to win the event and climb to fourth in the world rankings.

After completing a flawless 65 in the delayed third round on Sunday morning, Fowler carded a closing 69 to finish a shot ahead of Belgium's Thomas Pieters, with Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson a shot further back in third.

Fowler took a two-shot lead into the final round and looked firmly on course for victory when he birdied the first two holes to double his advantage, only to run up a double bogey on the seventh after thinning his second shot from a sandy waste area across the green.

Moments later, Spain's Alejandro Canizares holed from 25 feet for birdie on the 10th to cut Fowler's lead to a single shot, only for Fowler to hole out from a greenside bunker on the par-five eighth for an eagle.

A run of eight straight pars allowed the chasing pack, led initially by playing partner Pieters to get within a shot, with Stenson then carding three birdies in the last four holes and McIlroy playing his last seven holes in five under, including an eagle from 35 feet on the last.

However, Fowler responded by chipping in for a birdie on the 17th to take a two-shot lead up the 18th, the 27-year-old then breathing a massive sigh of relief when Pieters agonisingly missed his eagle attempt to potentially force a play-off.

That left Fowler to two-putt for par and claim his second European Tour title after his victory in the Scottish Open at Gullane last July, with world number one Jordan Spieth finishing joint fifth after carding his third 68 of the week.

Howell is expected to stay on in the Middle East and play at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, which gets under way on Thursday.