CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Padraig Harrington has played plenty of great rounds in his career, and he didn't think this was one of them. Coming off a three-week break, his concentration wasn't sharp and he didn't feel as though he had control of his swing.

And he was the leader after one round of the Wachovia Championship.

It was difficult to assess anything on a blustery day at Quail Hollow, when steamy conditions gave way to gusts in the afternoon, and everyone seemed to tiptoe around in hopes of avoiding trouble.

No one did that better than Harrington, who opened with a 6-under 66 for a one-shot lead Thursday over Vijay Singh and Jason Bohn.

"If you're driving it well, hitting it straight, you've got some good birdie shots, I suppose," he said.

Singh wasn't too shabby. His only stumble was a bogey on the 242-yard sixth hole when he missed the green to the left and missed a par putt from about 6 feet. Singh, who won here two years ago, steered clear of trouble on the closing holes and got off to a good start in pursuit of his third victory this year.

"You just have to play smart," Singh said.

With the wind gusting and then swirling late in the afternoon, sometimes sheer brain power didn't help.

Tiger Woods found that out as he tried to hang around the leaders while finishing off his round. He stood in the middle of the 18th fairway with an 8-iron in his hand, stared at the trees, then asked for an 8-iron.

He was perplexed when his shot sailed over the green, stopping to motion with his hands how the wind changed.

"It was an 8 when the wind was off the right, then it became a 7 when the wind was in, then the wind went in off the left, then went down off the left, and when I hit it was down off the right, when I thought it was in off the right," he said. "There you go."