Four-time Major winning Rory McIlroy revealed he penned his 2015 goals on the back on a boarding pass.

McIlroy used his time aboard a recent Emirates Airlines flight from Dublin to Dubai to again write down his goals for the new season and in a procedure he has adopted since the commencement of his career.

Last year those goals were put on the back of a boarding pass bearing seat number 4K while he was seated in 1A for the flight to Dubai where he had spent the past week working on his game before arriving in nearby Abu Dhabi for this week’s 10th anniversary Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

The World No. 1 admitted he usually writes down seven goals he then memorizes before placing the boarding pass at the back of his wallet but not looking at the boarding pass again until season end.

The subject of the boarding pass and McIlroy’s 2015 goals surfaced when he was asked about his goals for the coming year, and where he thought he could improve on his game.

“Yeah, there’s always little goals and it’s always the process goals are most important because it’s pretty obvious what anyone sitting up here at this press conference, whether it’s today or tomorrow; it’s obvious what everyone’s goal starting the year:  Winning tournaments, winning Majors,” he said.

“It’s the little things that you can do in practice and just in everyday life that can maybe help you get to that and be a little bit more consistent and do a couple more things.

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy not about to be distracted by a Dublin High Court showdown on route to Augusta National.

“So every year, I’m flying here and I do a week of prep or ten days of preparation in Dubai before this tournament, and I write my goals down in the back of my boarding pass, and I put it in my wallet and I memorise them. But I don’t look at them 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, and 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.”

The conversation continued:

Qn: Has it got “1A” written on the front of it?

RORY McILROY:  It does, yes (laughter).

Qn:  And have you still got your boarding pass from last year, and when did you look back on it?

RORY McILROY:  When was it ‑‑ I gave it to you, didn’t I, Sean?  I actually didn’t achieve everything that I wanted to last year.  I wanted to have six worldwide wins.  I only had four.  But still a good year (laughter).

Qn:  Was there two Majors on it?

RORY McILROY:  No. There was one.

Qn: Which was one was that, or just any ‑‑

RORY McILROY:  No, I’m not greedy; whatever.

Qn:  How long have you been doing that?

RORY McILROY:  Probably since the start of my career.

Qn:   You’ve given it to Sean?  Have you got them all somewhere?

RORY McILROY:  Once I don’t need them anymore, they are just discarded.  It’s funny the numbers have gradually gotten less and less.  It was 13B, 12A, it’s been nice (laughter).

Qn:  Can I just keep the boarding pass story going?  Full boarding pass or just the stub?

RORY McILROY:  No, the full one (laughter).

Qn:  On a serious note, just touching on that, how important is it to not let a distraction of what we’re going to ask you in the weeks up to Augusta?  Will that distract you from the big picture?

RORY McILROY:  Yeah, I know what to anticipate leading up to Augusta.  And for me it’s about trying to treat it as if ‑‑  the same way I have 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 build up 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, and I try not to look at too much stuff and really just go into my own little world for those couple of 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.

Qn:  Have you had a boarding pass where you have ticked off all the goals that you set at the start of the year?

RORY McILROY:  No.  So I aim pretty high.

Qn:  And how many things have you actually written down this year?

RORY McILROY:  Seven.  Seven things.

Qn:  Just going away from the boarding pass (laughter) ‑‑

RORY McILROY:  One day I don’t need a boarding pass, that’s the ultimate (laughter).