BETHESDA, Md. -- Tiger Woods just made his second birdie of the day, rolling in a 10-footer on the ninth hole to make the turn in 34 and in the lead at 8 under.

So far, Woods, who has a one-shot lead on Bo Van Pelt, has missed just one green in regulation.

If Woods has a nemesis, it’s the 11th hole, though. He’s made two pars and a bogey on the par-4, which has played as the most difficult hole on the golf course this week. There’s a creek running up the right side of the hole, and Woods has hit in there before (and almost did again earlier this week).

Two shots back of Woods is Jason Day, who has played his first 13 holes in 4 under. Seung-Yul Noh and Billy Hurley are another stroke back, while Adam Scott has slipped into a tie for sixth at 4 under after back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 14 and 15.

BETHESDA, Md. -- Tiger Woods has birdied the par-5 sixth hole just once this week. Sunday he made par there.

Bo Van Pelt, on the other hand, just birdied it for the third straight day and as a result is tied for the lead with Tiger Woods at 7 under.

It’s a crowded leaderboard, though, with seven players within three shots of the lead.

Adam Scott and overnight leader Brendon de Jonge are a shot back, while Jason Day and Billy Hurley III are another stroke back at 5 under.

BETHESDA, Md. -- Tiger Woods leads by himself at the AT&T National, where he just made his first birdie of the day to move to 7 under and one shot clear of the field.

Woods, who won here in 2009 and has two wins already this season, hit his approach to 10 feet on the par-4 fifth then sank the putt.

He’s now played his last 31 holes without a bogey.

Woods leads by one over Adam Scott, Hunter Mahan, Brendon de Jonge and Bo Van Pelt.

Another stroke back are Nick Watney and Jason, both 3 under on the day so far, along with Seung-Yul Noh, who is 1 over.

BETHESDA, Md. -- One hole after taking the lead, Bo Van Pelt gave it right back with a bogey on the fourth hole.

Van Pelt missed the green short and right on his approach, then pitched to 20 feet. He missed the par save from there and dropped back into a five-way tie for the lead at 6 under.

Also in that group: Hunter Mahan, who seems to have recovered from a third-round 7 and is 1 under through four holes today, and Tiger Woods, who is even par through his first four holes.

Adam Scott is also tied for the lead after making five birdies on the front nine to turn in 31.

BETHESDA, Md. -- It’s early in the final round, but Bo Van Pelt just took the lead at 7 under with a birdie on the third hole.

Brendon de Jonge, meanwhile, made bogey and is now a shot back along with four others, including Tiger Woods and Adam Scott.

Scott has the day’s best round going at 5 under through his first eight holes. Scott has birdied each of his last four holes and is now on the par-5 ninth.

As tough as Congressional has been this week, it is prone to some low numbers. Remember, Hunter Mahan (who is also tied for second at the moment) shot a final-round 62 here in 2009 to finish second behind Tiger Woods.

De Jonge’s bogey, by the way, came when he missed the green on his approach to the par-4 third then missed a 9-footer to save par

BETHESDA, Md. -- It’s amazing what can happen with a proper warm-up.

Adam Scott is 3 under through his first six holes here at Congressional Country Club, where he’s just three shots off the lead.

The fact that Scott is still playing is a minor miracle.

Thursday, the Aussie overslept when his alarm clock didn’t go off and raced from Georgetown -- a good 45 minutes away -- to Congressional and reached the tee box with only a couple of minutes to spare. Had he missed his tee time, he would have been disqualified.

Scott’s first swing of the day came when he got to the 10th tee. He made par but went double bogey-bogey the next two holes and shot 75 -- not terrible considering all he had to go through just to get here.

The rest of the week has gone much smoother for Scott, who followed with rounds of 67 and 70 before Sunday’s hot start.

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

BETHESDA, Md. -- With a victory today at the AT&T National, Tiger Woods would surpass Jack Nicklaus and move one step closer to Sam Snead’s record for career wins on the PGA TOUR. Snead had 82 wins in his career, and Woods has 73.

In those 73 wins, Woods, who trails by a stroke, has come from behind 22 times when trailing going into the last round.

A win here would also give Woods three on the year -- more than any other player on TOUR this season.

The last time this tournament was played here, in 2009, Woods won.

As for Bo Van Pelt, who is tied with Woods, his lone victory on TOUR came at the 2009 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee.

This year, he had five top-10 finishes, including a tie for seventh at THE PLAYERS Championship.

At the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional, Van Pelt opened with a 76 but rebounded with rounds of 67-68-71 to finish in a tie for 14th. In five previous AT&T Nationals, his best finish was a tie for 11th each of the last two years when it was played at Aronimink Golf Club in suburban Philadelphia.

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

BETHESDA, Md. -- Fans not being allowed at the golf course Saturday wasn’t the only first at Congressional -- it was also the first time Brendon de Jonge had taken a 54-hole lead at a PGA TOUR event.

Now De Jonge, a former standout at Virginia Tech via Zimbabwe, will try to get his first victory in 137 career starts. This year, there have been five first-time winners.

He’s certainly been building toward this.

Since the start of the 2009 season, de Jonge has the most birdies on TOUR with 1,402 (Webb Simpson, who has had a pretty good couple of years, is second with 1,329).

To put that in perspective, that’s an average of one birdie for every five holes for de Jonge.

This week, de Jonge is just 15th in the field with 11 birdies, but he’s managed to avoid making mistakes with just four birdies through the first three rounds.

By the way, de Jonge is playing for more than just his first career win. A victory here would vault him to the top of the mini-money list to get him into the British Open for the first time in his career. De Jonge came into the week fifth on the list. The top two players not already exempt after next week get an automatic spot in the field.

Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

Tiger Woods guns for his TOUR-leading third win of the 2012 season.

It's going to be a much different day Sunday at Congressional -- and with fans back, it's going to be unpredictable. Brendon de Jonge sits on his first 54-hole lead on the PGA TOUR, with 2009 AT&T National champ Tiger Woods sitting just one shot back.

What is your prediction about the final round? Who has the best shot at preventing Woods from his 74th PGA TOUR win -- which will pass Jack Nicklaus for second on the all-time list (Sam Snead, 88).