Harrington aiming even higher

Pádraig Harrington has warned his contemporaries he will be a better player in the coming season but he doesn’t expect to show signs of it in the United Arab Emirates this week.

The Dubliner won two majors last year - the Open and the US PGA Championship - and finished second on the European Tour Order of Merit, and on the eve of his first tournament in 2009, the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, he is targeting even more improvement.

“I am in a better position to manage my injuries,” Harrington, who battled a wrist injury to triumph at Royal Birkdale last July, told the European Tour’s website.

“I do believe I’ll be a better player this year. Obviously last year was such a good year. It would be hard to set goals based on last year so I’m trying to focus on the process and just trying to improve my game.

“I worked out a lot during the break, not only on my game and in the gym, but also with my psyche.”

Harrington is expecting to be a little rusty this week though, having not played a competitive round since November, and is not setting high targets.

“I would say I’m more hopeful than expecting because of the fact that it’s the start of the year,” he added. “You are a little bit raw in terms of your scoring ability and that really determines whether you win or not during the week.

“I’m looking forward to the week. It’s a tough golf course but I like it. The rough is very heavy. It’s all brushed in off the tee so you have to hit it very straight off the tee which for the first week out just seems a little bit difficult.”

Like Harrington, Sergio Garcia was another player to capitalise on the absence of world number one Tiger Woods last year to reinforce his credentials as one the game’s best players.

A maiden major title yet again eluded him - he was runner-up at the PGA Championship - but he was in impressive form in Europe and the United States, and kicked off this season’s inaugural Race to Dubai with victory at the HSBC Champions in November.

“This is going to be an important year for me and I’m looking forward to getting into a good rhythm and get some good emotions in these next three weeks,” said the Spaniard.

Garcia is arguably the most likely candidate to topple Woods at the top of the world rankings, but he says winning a major remains a far more important goal.

“Of course I have a chance (to be world number one),” he said. “It could happen if I get going the right way and play very well. But it’s not something that’s do or die for me.

“Winning a major has always been a goal for me. So I guess that’s probably the only place where I’ll set any kind of a goal and try to get on that. Other than that, I’ll try to play as well as I can at any tournament and try to win it if I have the chance.

“If I became the number one nothing is going to change for me.”