The Northern Irishman will compete in his first event of the year when the tournament celebrates its 10th anniversary at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club this weekend.
After a superb 2014 that brought double major success at The Open Championship and US PGA Championship, McIlroy is seeking to maintain that success this season - with many rivals tipping him to complete a sweep of majors this year.
Victory at Abu Dhabi has proved thus far elusive for McIlroy, though, with three runner-up finishes the best he has mustered so far.
And breaking that run may feature on the list of targets that McIlroy sets himself each year before the event begins.
"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", McIlroy said.
"Then 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 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."
Among those competing to prevent McIlroy from ending his wait for victory in Abu Dhabi is defending champion Pablo Larrazabal.
The Spaniard held off the likes of McIlroy and Phil Mickelson - who were joint second 12 months ago - to clinch his third European Tour title.
"Obviously playing alongside Rory and Miguel [Angel Jimenez] helped me as I knew that if Rory was playing well he's going to have a chance to win a golf tournament, so to be playing with him I knew I had a chance," Larrazabal said of his victory.
With three wins and a runners-up finish Martin Kaymer is the most successful player in the history of the tournament and he is once more part of a stellar cast.
Fellow major winners Justin Rose, Ernie Els and Darren Clarke are also among the field, as is Sweden's Henrik Stenson.