Of the vital components attached to a Rory McIlroy year, nobody would have guessed a folded boarding pass would feature among them. But that very object has become an annual motivational ritual for the world’s No1 golfer, as he outlined ahead of his first event of the new season.
"Every year, I fly out and do a week or 10 days of preparation in Dubai before this tournament," said McIlroy in Abu Dhabi, where the HSBC Golf Championship begins on Thursday. "I write my goals down on the back of my boarding pass, put it in my wallet and I memorise them. I don't look at them again until the end of the year.
“So in my back pocket in my wallet is a boarding pass with my goals for this year. I don’t really want to share them with anyone else. They are just my little goals; I’ll try and achieve those and I’ll take that boarding pass out at the end of the year and see how well I’ve done.”
There are seven this time around and McIlroy conceded he is yet to fully meet his stipulated targets in any previous year. “Last year I wanted to have six worldwide wins. I only had four,” added the Northern Irishman. “I aim pretty high. Once I don’t need the cards any more, they are just discarded.”
A McIlroy smile followed. “It’s funny, the(seat) numbers have gradually gotten less and less. It was 13B, 12A ... so that has been nice.”
Two more serious, unavoidable elements feature prominently for the 25-year-old over the next three months. At Augusta National in April, he will seek to complete a full set of major championship wins by claiming the Masters. Before then, McIlroy is also due in a Dublin courtroom as a multimillion pound dispute with his former management company reaches a very public denouement.
If the Northern Irishman is at all worried by that off-course scenario, he does not show it. In fact, he was completely unperturbed when the issue was raised on Tuesday. “I’ve literally not thought about it since whenever I last had to talk to someone about it,” McIlroy insisted. “I haven’t talked about it. I just go with what the lawyers say and they tell me to just sit tight and not talk much about it and that’s it. It is no big deal. I will be OK at the end of the day.”
And the prospect of spending up to a week in a witness stand? “I just have to get up there and tell the truth. That is all I need to do,” he replied.
McIlroy’s plan is to play five tournaments before the Masters, potentially including the Bay Hill Invitational for the first time. By that mid-March juncture, attention around a player who already holds two of golf’s four majors will be more intense than ever.
“I know what to anticipate leading up to Augusta,” McIlroy said. “And for me it’s about trying to treat it the same way I have done and not put any more emphasis on it than there already is.
“It’s the first major of the year. People have been waiting for eight months for a major to come around. There’s so much buildup and hype going into Augusta, anyway.
“So it’s just about making sure I’m as well prepared as I possibly can be going into that event, and I feel like I’ve got a good routine and mental strategy going into majors now where I try not to let too much affect me. I try not to look at too much stuff and really just go into my own little world for those weeks.
“It’s been working pretty well, so I’ll try to just keep doing what I’ve been doing and keep to my routines, and if I can do that, that will give me the best possible chance to play well that week.”
McIlroy has suffered two rule penalties in his last three appearances in Abu Dhabi, with the sanction costing him victory on each occasion. This time around, a stellar field also includes Rickie Fowler, Martin Kaymer, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson. Fowler and McIlroy will partner Matteo Manassero during the opening two rounds.
“I think one of the goals this week is just to have no penalty shots when I don’t need them, and see where I end up at the end of the week,” said McIlroy. “I know they have made a few changes to it but it’s a golf course I’ve always felt comfortable on, one that has suited me, and I have played well here in the past. I think this is my eighth year in a row starting the season off here, so I’m pretty familiar with the place and looking forward to another strong start to the season.”
