Despite being the current custodian of the Claret Jug, Pádraig Harrington's obsession to work harder than anyone else - and, also, to continue to prove himself - knows no end.

Yesterday, as the citizens of this oil rich desert emirate struggled to cope with record levels of rainfall which led roads to flood and forced schools to close, the 36-year-old Dubliner admitted that he'd reverted to the mindset adopted in his early years on tour in preparation for the Abu Dhabi Championship, only his second outing on the European Tour since it kick-started two months ago.

"I've reset myself back to my early days on tour, where I want to work harder and harder and harder," explained Harrington, who added: "I've actually gone back to being a bit obsessive about the fact that I'm getting out there and working and practising and all that stuff. It is like I've got to go through something all over again . . . you'd think I'd lost a tournament (rather than won the British Open) in the sense that I'm trying to get out there and prove myself again."

In truth, Harrington has nothing to prove to anyone; it's just that he is not the type who wallows in self-glory. "There's no element of sitting back and relaxing. In fact, I've actually done the opposite. I'm keener to work on my game than I've ever been. If anything, I'm more obsessive about getting my work done . . . it has to be managed, no question, there has to be a balance."

Harrington, though, believes he heads into the Abu Dhabi championship still a couple of weeks away from the sharpness he would ideally like. "When I played here a year ago, I was coming to the end of my preseason preparation. This time, I was very busy before Christmas and then I got sick over the Christmas. So, I am kind of in the middle of what I would be doing. I don't have the same pep in my step as last year. There's more doubt this year."

Does he, as a new major champion, see himself as a target for others in the field? "You know, I could never understand the guy teeing up in a two-ball trying to compete against you. If you finish 50th and 49th, it is irrelevant. If I finish 50th this week, the guys at 48th or 49th would be unhappy. There's no point in picking an individual. There's no point in picking another individual, just yourself. You always try to beat whatever standards you want for the week.

"Now, where I think there is an element of having a major winner out there (to target) is that most guys know my game, know me and know what I did to win a major championship. They can see that, it is tangible. And every time they play with me they can gauge and judge. It will make it easier for them to believe that they can win a major. I don't think there is necessarily any element in my game that would intimidate other people. So, realistically, they can look are me and use me as a role model, a good sort of benchmark for what it takes to go and win a major."

Certainly, those players competing in the tournament (which has a top prize of 225,421), will have vastly different conditions than usual. The normal rainfall for January is 17mm but, in just over one 24-hour period in midweek, some 170mm of rain was recorded.

The result is that the course is playing longer, and the greens are more receptive. And the rough is tough. "There'll be times you can just hit it out 40 yards if you are in the rough," testified Harrington, one of eight Irish players in the field, along with Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Gary Murphy, Peter Lawrie and Damien McGrane.

Yet, it is a measure of how this tournament, first staged in 2006, has so quickly established itself that the field features seven of the top-25 players in the world ranking: Adam Scott (eighth), Harrington (ninth), Henrik Stenson (16th), Luke Donald (18th), Paul Casey (21st), Ian Poulter (22nd) and Lee Westwood (23rd).

For Scott, this tournament also marks a return to old ways. "It would be poor of me to forget what the European Tour did for me, that's why I'm trying to make the effort to get back over here this year. I think it's also healthy for my game. I'm pretty much a global player and I'd like to get back to those roots," said Scott.

Whoever ultimately wins will have to play well. As Clarke said, "the rough and the combination of the weather and the course set-up is going to make it a much tougher test than it has been in the past."