NORTON, Mass. (AP) – Adam Scott played well enough to effectively end the Deutsche Bank Championship on Sunday, just like most PGA Tour events.

Instead, the easygoing Aussie still has a full day of work left for his first PGA Tour win.

Scott built a five-stroke lead through seven holes, then watched several opportunities slip away before settling for a 4-under 67 on the TPC of Boston and a three-shot lead over Jonathan Kaye. Scott was at 15-under 198 after finishing with a birdie on the final hole – but only after missing a 12-foot eagle putt that epitomized his round.

He missed five birdie chances from about that range, sometimes even shorter.

Still, the 23-year-old Scott was in command of the $5 million tournament.

“I seem to be a pretty good front-runner,” said Scott, who has won all four of his tournaments worldwide with the 54-hole lead.

Kaye had six birdies on the back nine – the longest from 8 feet – and had a season-best 63 to get into the final group for the second straight week.

He was runner-up to Darren Clarke in the NEC Invitational at Firestone.

Clarke is back in the picture, too, finally converting his birdie chances down the stretch for a 67 that left only four back, at 202, along with Geoff Ogilvy (68) and Justin Rose (68).

“There’s going to be a few guys out of the blocks who can give Adam a run for it,” Clarke said. Rose might be a little closer except for a gaffe on the 14th. Not only did he miss a 10-foot birdie putt, he stubbed his putter trying to tap in for par, taking a one-stroke penalty.

“Heart of my hearts, I knew I was trying to make the ball go in,” Rose said.

“It was careless. No excuses. You live and you learn.”

Tiger Woods, whose foundation gets the charitable proceeds from the Deutsche Bank Championship, finished strong for a 67 but was eight strokes behind. Woods has never won a PGA Tour event from more than five shots back.

Vijay Singh, who started the third round only two off the lead, also missed several putts and had to settle for a 71, leaving him six off the lead.

It will be the first Labor Day finish on the PGA Tour – at least by design – and plenty of hard work lies ahead.

For most of the third round, it didn’t look that way.

Scott doubled his two-shot lead in no time, hitting his approach over the water and into 10 feet on the par-5 second hole, his third eagle in the last 13 holes.

That put Scott at 13 under, and short birdie putts on Nos. 6 and 7 gave him a five-shot lead as he made the turn.

“It was the ideal start, really,” Scott said. “I played the first seven perfectly. It kept all my momentum from yesterday going.”

Another 10-footer for birdie put him at 16 under, but as everyone started to make a move, Scott faltered. He twice missed short par putts, and continually watched birdie chances turn away.

“I had a lot of chances, especially on the back nine,” Scott said. “I definitely left a few out there today.”

He has one more round to rectify that, and history on his side as a guy who knows how to win with the lead.

The best Woods can hope for from the Deutsche Bank Championship is money for his foundation. For the second straight day, too many bogeys early in his round kept him from mounting any sort of run.

“I’ve tried,” Woods said. “It just hasn’t happened.”

Seven players were within five shots of Scott, all of them with enough length to make it interesting.

K.J. Choi had to hole a 15-foot putt from the fringe to save bogey on the 18th, dropping him down to a 68. He was at 203, along with Tim Herron (68) and Rocco Mediate (66).

Kaye won his first PGA Tour event earlier this year at the Buick Classic, and he was only one behind Clarke last week at Firestone before the 35-year-old player from Northern Ireland quickly turned the final round into a rout.

Kaye and everyone else can only hope that Scott doesn’t have the same thing in mind.

Divots: Sunday was a rare occasion that Tiger Woods was not wearing a red shirt, the color he saves for the final round. The last time he played in a tournament scheduled for a Monday finish was the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open last year in Germany. “It felt like the third round,” said Woods, dressed in white. “But it feels like I’ve been here for a while.” … Darren Clarke was asked if he had ever won tournaments in back-to-back weeks. “It’s taken longer than five days to sober up, so probably not,” Clarke said. … Greg Norman birdied the final hole for a 70 and was at 206, eight shots behind Scott.

AP-ES-08-31-03 1906EDT