Houston ? Ten minutes after he watched his par putt spin out of the hole to end an aggravating day, Tiger Woods changed into shorts and a sleeveless shirt, then strapped on his fingerless gloves to go lift weights.

“It might be a little heavier this time,” Woods said of his workout.

If anything, he needed to work off some steam Thursday.

In a pressure-packed finale of the PGA Tour season, Woods had no trouble distancing himself from chief rival Vijay Singh in the first round of the Tour Championship.

It’s the other dozen guys ahead of him that present the problem.

Charles Howell III and Kenny Perry led the way Thursday, each with a 4-under 67 in the tricky breezes at Champions Golf Club to tie for the lead.

Woods was tied for the lead at one point after a brilliant start in which he put five strokes between him and Singh after the first five holes.

But he let a good round get away with three straight bogeys on the back, including a three-putt on the par-5 13th, for a 1-under 70 that left him tied for 13th.

“I hit two bad shots, and that was it,” Woods said. “The rest were mostly putting mistakes.”

Vijay Singh, right, and Tiger Woods prepare to tee off on the first hole during the first round of the Tour Championship. Woods shot 1-under 70 and Singh 2-over 73 Thursday in Houston.

Singh was even worse, using his putter 36 times in a round of 73 that kept him at the bottom of the leaderboard throughout the day.

“I let the putts get away from me,” Singh said. “And I got very tentative after that.”

At stake in the final tournament of the PGA Tour season are the money title — advantage Singh — and player of the year, with Woods, Singh, Mike Weir and Davis Love III in the hunt. All of them likely could win the award with a victory at Champions.

Love finished with a double bogey and a bogey for a 73. Weir, the Masters champion, was 1 over on the par 5s, made four bogeys in his last 10 holes and shot 72.

This week means just as much to Howell, who is desperate not to end the season without a victory.

“Am I frustrated for not winning this year? Yeah, a little bit,” Howell said. “I don’t think you can ever give yourself an ‘A’ for the season without a win.”

Perry, who had eight consecutive finishes in the top 10 this summer, had the only bogey-free round at Champions.

“Hopefully, that ball will keep flying at the flag and I keep making putts,” Perry said.

Fred Funk, Jerry Kelly and Chris DiMarco each had a 3-under 68.

Only 16 players in the 31-man field of top money-winners managed to break par.

Most of the focus was on Singh and Woods, a final pairing that figured to set the tone for the week at Champions.

Singh has a $768,494 lead over Woods and knows what he has to do this week.

With an enormous gallery lining both sides of the fairway from tee to green, it had the atmosphere of match play. Singh is not one to be intimidated, although he looked nervous over the first few holes and never got it going.

He three-putted from 35 feet on the second hole, and took another three-putt bogey on the par-3 fourth, both times leaving himself about 8 feet for the par putt.

Woods, meantime, looked more determined than he has all year.

He hit a 4-iron over a canyon into 10 feet on No. 4, then moved to the top of the leaderboard with a 5-iron from 225 yards that landed softly on the flat part of the green and stopped 2 feet from the cup at the par-5 fifth for a tap-in eagle.

Woods appeared to be making a statement: Hold onto those PGA Tour player of the year ballots, and don’t take his name off the money title trophy just yet.

But it all fell apart on three holes.

With one swing — a drive that sailed to the right and into the trees on No. 11 — all the momentum was gone. Woods whipped his body around and slammed his club into the ground, and bogeys started appearing on his card with alarming regularity.

He had to chip out and missed a 20-footer for par.

On the par-3 12th, he barely got his bunker shot out of the trap, and beat the rake handle with his wedge. Woods had to make a 6-footer just to save bogey.

The real shocker was on his final par 5, No. 13, which was playing downwind. He drove into the left rough, hit into a bunker and then three-putted for bogey from 35 feet.

The last time Woods and Singh played together was at the American Express Championship, when Woods held on to his two-stroke lead in the final round to win. The conversation was minimal that day, and Thursday was no different.

“It doesn’t really matter,” Woods said of the pairing. “The only time it mattered was in Atlanta, where we were paired in the final round when things can happen. You just need to get to that position on Sunday.”

Divots: Howell now has five straight rounds in the 60s in the Tour Championship. He played his first one last year at East Lake, but finished two shots behind Singh. … K.J. Choi is 30th on the money list, and because Darren Clarke was added to the field, Choi had the first tee time and played alone. He declined to have a marker play with him, and shot 77. … Tim Herron failed to make a birdie in his round of 79.

Britain-Ireland leads Seve

Valencia, Spain — Padraig Harrington and Phillip Price beat Thomas Bjorn and Sergio Garcia 2 up in the last best-ball match Thursday, giving Britain-Ireland a 31/2-11/2 lead over Continental Europe in the Seve Trophy.

Lee Westwood-David Howell and Brian Davies-Paul Casey also won matches for Britain-Ireland, the defending champions.

Westwood and Howell defeated Seve Ballesteros — Continental Europe’s captain — and Jose Maria Olazabal 2 up, while Davies and Casey beat Ignacio Garrido and Miguel Angel Jimenez 2 and 1.

Alex Cejka and Raphael Jacquelin won Continental Europe’s only point, defeating Justin Rose and Ian Poulter 4 and 3.

Colin Montgomerie, Britain-Ireland’s captain, and Paul Lawrie halved their match against Niclas Fasth and Fredrik Jacobson.