Rory McIlroy scratches out 2015 goals on the back of a boarding pass

When you’re the best golfer in the world, as Rory McIlroy is, your goals for the coming year must be pretty simple: play, win, repeat.

Perhaps that’s why McIlroy, who’ll launch his 2015 European Tour season playing his first two rounds with Ryder Cup rival Rickie Fowler in Abu Dhabi, needs only the back of a boarding pass to jot down his personal aims for the upcoming campaign.

We’re certain there’s more to his list than the three-step directions for washing his hair, but the four-time major champion who would complete the career grand slam with a win at Augusta in April is keeping that information on a need-to-know basis.

“Every year I fly here [to the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship] and I do a week or 10 days of preparation in Dubai before this tournament, and I write my goals down on the back of my boarding pass, put it in my wallet and memorize them,” McIlroy, who is 0-7 in the event, told reporters on Tuesday. “Then I don’t look at them until the end of the year.”

Even after earning two major titles and wrapping up PGA and Euro Tour golfer of the year honors in 2014, McIlroy acknowledged he’s never achieved every objective he had set out for himself in his yearly ritual.

“Last year I wanted to have six worldwide wins,” the world No. 1 told the Guardian. “I only had four.”

Without revealing specifics, McIlroy said he was aiming at seven specific targets this year, and that following his 12-month hunt, he would assess his success.

“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 as they are just my little goals, and I’ll try and achieve those and take that boarding pass out at the end of the year and see how well I’ve done,” he said.

McIlroy waited until the holidays to determine if his script for last year played out as planned, and turned the page for 2015.

“Over the Christmas period I had my first chance to really look back and reflect on the year and even watch a few of the highlights of some of the tournaments that I won,” McIlroy noted. “It was nice to reflect, but I feel 2014 has really set me up for another great year. I feel like I’m coming into this year with a nice little bit of momentum, and my game is feeling good.”

Thursday’s start at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club will mark his first competitive round since November and McIlroy served notice on his competitors that he was rested and ready to defend his status atop the world golf rankings.

“It was nice to have that little break, but it’s time to look forward now towards this season and try to accomplish the goals that I set for myself at the start of this year,” he said.

As for the potential distraction of having to testify during his pending court case against his former agent, and the media scrutiny that will only intensify as the Masters approaches, McIlroy was unfazed.

“I’ve literally not thought about [the litigation] since whenever I last had to talk to someone about it,” McIlroy told the Guardian. “It is no big deal.”

With five pre-Masters events on his schedule, McIlroy said he would not stray from his tried-and-true regimen.

“I know what to anticipate leading up to Augusta, and for me it’s about trying to treat it the same way I have done [before] and not put any more emphasis on it than there already is,” he said about the run-up to the first major of the men’s season. “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,” McIlroy contended. “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.”

Not sure which is the more stunning revelation from Tiger Woods’ presumptive heir apparent: that he needs nothing more than a pen and a scrap of paper to plot out his year’s ambitions, or that he needs a boarding pass. What, no private plane for the Boy Wonder?