• Abu Dhabi Championship

McIlroy: Court case won't distract me

Rory McIlroy kicks off his season in Abu Dhabi © Getty Images

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World No.1 Rory McIlroy has set his goals for 2015 and insists his looming court case won't distract him.

The Northern Irishman, who won back-to-back majors at the Open and US PGA Championship in 2014 as well as helping Europe retain the Ryder Cup, kicks off his season in Abu Dhabi this week.

And he has continued his tradition of using the trip to the United Arab Emirates to mark out what he plans to achieve in the year, with McIlroy revealing he has set himself seven goals in total.

"Every year I fly here 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 memorise them, then I don't look at them until the end of the year," he told the BBC.

"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 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.

"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, so it was nice to reflect, but I feel 2014 has really set me up for another great year."

McIlroy will look to become only the sixth man to complete a career Grand Slam of majors at the Masters in April, and, with his forthcoming court case against former agents Horizon Sports due to start next month, he says he will not lose focus.

"Right now I just do what my lawyers tell me to do and that's to sit back and just concentrate on golf and that's basically what I've been doing," he added, when asked whether it would be a distraction.

"It hasn't been much of a distraction so far this year. There were a couple of bits and pieces I had to do last year but honestly I haven't really thought about it."

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