Harrington and Garcia kept apart at Abu Dhabi

Rivals Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia will not be seeing much of each other on the opening two days of this week's Abu Dhabi Championship.

The pair will be playing the same event for the first time since Harrington said last month he had "zero in common" with his Ryder Cup team-mate.

However the draw for the first 36 holes sees the Open and US PGA champion paired with defending champion Martin Kaymer and Swede Henrik Stenson, with Garcia in the other half of the field alongside Paul Casey and Oliver Wilson.

Ever since Harrington beat Garcia in a play-off for the 2007 Open their rivalry has grown, and although Garcia is one place ahead of the Dubliner at second in the world rankings, Harrington got the better of him again at last August's PGA Championship.

"We have zero in common, bar the fact that we both play golf," Harrington stated. "He is the antithesis of me and I am the antithesis of him.

"We're also competitors who for the last few years have been vying over who is the number one golfer in Europe.

"I think in the hearts and minds of a lot of people Garcia would have been number one, while I have been ranked number one. As you can imagine, no quarter is given.

"It is not as if we have ever had a row or a run-in. I have had plenty of run-ins with people and we would be friends, but it is just, well, we are just so much the opposite of each other."