Tiger Woods held firm to beat Bo Van Pelt to the AT&T National title at Congressional and move second on the all-time list of PGA Tour winners.
Woods began the day one shot back of overnight leader Brendon de Jonge, but went two under for an eight-under-par total as the Zimbabwean fell apart.
De Jonge had a nightmare round of six over par to finish in a share of 11th on one under, leaving Van Pelt, the other member of the final threesome, as Woods' closest challenger.
And after both men bogeyed the 16th, it was neck and neck with two holes to play.
But Van Pelt could not hold it together, dropping a further shot at each of the final two holes, allowing Woods to seal a Tour-leading third title of the year by two strokes with a pair of pars.
It was Woods' 74th PGA Tour win, moving him clear in second and ahead of Jack Nicklaus.
The only man ahead of him is Sam Snead, who won 82.
Van Pelt was level for his final round to finish second on six under, one clear of Australia's Adam Scott.
The win came at the end of an unusual week, as the tournament was played for the most part in stifling heat and on Saturday, following the storms that battered the mid-Atlantic, no fans were admitted on to the Maryland course for safety reasons.
Woods, who is also the National's host, said: "What an incredible week.
"Everybody, thank you for being patient with us. Yesterday was a silent day. I think everyone saved up for today. What an atmosphere to play in front of."
Woods immediately targeted more tournament wins after passing Nicklaus on the PGA list.
"I've had a pretty good career," he said. "To do it at 36, I feel like I have a lot of years ahead of me.
"I've had a number of good years in my career so far, and I feel like I've got a lot more ahead of me."
Scott's 67 was equal best round of the day and would have been even better but for bogeys at 14 and 15.
Last year's champion Nick Watney was level today to finish 10th overall on two under, one ahead of De Jonge and Scotland's Martin Laird, who leapt up 16 places with a 69 on the final day.
England's Brian Davis was one of a number of men who had a day to forget - his six-over 77 saw him finish in a share of 49th on eight over.
He was far from the worst, though - Vijay Singh carded an 81 and Patrick Cantlay an 82.
Collated final round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour AT&T National, Congressional G & CC, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
(USA unless stated, par 71):
276 Tiger Woods 72 68 67 69
278 Bo Van Pelt 67 73 67 71
279 Adam Scott (Aus) 75 67 70 67
280 Billy Hurley III 69 73 66 72, Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 70 68 69 73, Robert Garrigus 70 67 73 70, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 71 70 68 71
281 Hunter Mahan 70 65 73 73, Jason Day (Aus) 69 72 70 70
282 Nick Watney 70 72 69 71
283 Brendon De Jonge 68 69 69 77, Martin Laird (Sco) 72 69 73 69, Brian Harman 72 73 71 67, John Mallinger 70 72 68 73
284 Ryan Palmer 74 67 69 74, Chez Reavie 72 72 67 73
285 Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 75 68 68 74, Greg Owen (Eng) 70 75 67 73, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 72 71 72 70, John Huh (Kor) 72 73 67 73, Daniel Summerhays 70 73 69 73
286 Ben Crane 77 70 71 68, Charley Hoffman 72 68 71 75, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 71 67 75 73, Sean O'Hair 73 72 67 74, Kyle Stanley 72 75 68 71, Jeff Overton 79 69 68 70, Stewart Cink 70 68 74 74
287 Pat Perez 69 69 72 77, Roberto Castro 74 73 70 70, Troy Matteson 73 70 69 75
288 Marc Leishman (Aus) 70 70 71 77, Jimmy Walker 68 69 75 76
289 Bud null Cauley 73 71 71 74, Martin Flores 75 71 72 71, Ben Curtis 74 74 73 68, Heath Slocum 76 70 70 73, Jim Furyk 73 73 74 69, Andres Romero (Arg) 73 71 74 71, Brandt Jobe 70 72 70 77, Hunter Haas 74 72 73 70
290 Bryce Molder 78 69 72 71, Bobby Gates 74 68 75 73
291 Dustin Johnson 70 76 71 74, K.T. Kim (Kor) 72 74 72 73, Will Claxton 73 75 71 72, D.J. Trahan 75 72 71 73, Cameron Tringale 74 65 76 76
292 Brian Davis (Eng) 74 69 72 77, Chris Di Marco 76 71 74 71, William McGirt 72 76 73 71, Graham Delaet (Can) 74 74 71 73, Blake Adams 72 75 72 73, Ricky Barnes 74 72 72 74, Charlie Wi (Kor) 70 75 74 73, Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 70 73 81, George McNeill 73 72 73 74
293 Kevin Chappell 72 73 72 76, Ryan Moore 73 75 73 72, Harris English 71 74 73 75
295 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 74 73 73 75, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 74 68 77 76, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 72 74 73 76, James Driscoll 70 76 73 76, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 76 72 72 75
296 Bob Estes 74 74 73 75, Patrick Cantlay 72 71 71 82
297 Brendan Steele 71 76 74 76, Erik Compton 73 73 72 79, Charles Howell III 70 73 74 80
299 J.J Killeen 72 75 73 79
300 Brendon Todd 72 76 73 79
301 Gary Woodland 72 74 75 80
