Rory McIlroy is hopeful a change of scenery can bring him a long-awaited first victory at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship - and with it a maiden Rolex Series win.

The Northern Irishman's record at this event is spectacular, with four seconds, four thirds, a fifth, an 11th and just a single missed cut in 11 appearances.

But all of those events were held at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, with the tournament this year making the short hop north east to Yas Links.

And while McIlroy may miss a venue at which he has played so well, he hopes a change in scenery could at last see him get over the line in Abu Dhabi.

"I played really well at the other golf course for a long time," he said. "Maybe this is what's needed to end up winning this thing at the end, a change of golf course.

"It's always been a great place to start the year for me. I've always played pretty well and hopefully I can continue that trend this week.

"I think every time you tee it up for the first time of the year there's renewed optimism and excitement and anticipation and, even though this is going into my 15th or 16th year on Tour, it's no different. You're excited to get the season under way, you want to get off to a good start.

"Historically coming off the break I had started pretty well. I just want to try to continue that trend.

"I sort of just want to pick up where I left off at the end of last year. I felt like I turned a corner after the Ryder Cup and played some good golf in that stretch.

"I just want to try to keep doing what I'm doing with that and feel like I've got a couple of nice thoughts with the swing, try to get the scoring clubs as I can and go from there."

McIlroy memorably got emotional after winning his singles match in a losing Ryder Cup effort for Europe and won his next start at The CJ Cup @ SUMMIT on the PGA Tour.

A top 10 followed at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai and after a winter break in which the four-time Major Champion "stayed busy", he is now fully focused on 2022.

That focus is less on results and more on his game, however, as the 32-year-old looks to improve on the things that he can control.

"I used to sit down on the flight here and write down: I want to win five times, I want to win a Major, I want to win the Race to Dubai, I want to win the FedExCup, I want to do this or that, and of course I want to do all those things. I'd love to win six times in a season, I've never done that before.

"And all those things are great goals and they are things to try to work towards. But I think the biggest thing for guys that are at the level that we're at is: I want to hit over 60 per cent of my fairways, I want my proximity inside 150 yards to be a certain number, I want my strokes gained putting to be a certain number.

"I think having goals that are more objective and more that I'm in control of - so I can't control if I win five or six times a year. There's so many other variables in there.

"But I can certainly control if I hit 60 per cent of the fairways. I can control if my strokes gained numbers, my stats are better than they were the year before.

"So it's about trying to set yourself goals that you can control, and that are objective and measurable, and I guess those are the sort of goals I've started to set myself the last few years."

(By EuropeanTour.com)