THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Anthony Kim matched the best score of the week with a 5-under 67, taking a one-shot lead when Jim Furyk found the water for double bogey on the 18th hole at the Chevron World Challenge today.

Kim was worried about rust coming off a five-week break, but his putter worked just fine in making six birdies at Sherwood Country Club. He was at 8-under 208.

Furyk made back-to-back birdies to regain the lead, but from a tough stance in the rough, his approach came up well short and into the pond in front of the 18th green. That led to double bogey for a 70, but still put him in range of another win in the silly season.

Kim will try to make it 2-for-2 in tournaments hosted by Tiger Woods. He also won the AT&T National this year at Congressional.

Vijay Singh chipped in for eagle on the par-3 13th and added a pair of birdies late for a 67 that put him in the group at 6-under 210 with Steve Stricker (68) and Camilo Villegas (69).

The only other player still in serious contention was Hunter Mahan, who had a 70 and was five shots out of the lead.

Kim's big year includes a five-shot victory at the Wachovia Championship, followed by a closing 65 at Congressional to win Woods' regular PGA Tour event by two strokes. He also starred in the Ryder Cup, and sees this exhibition as the perfect way to end the year.

The only surprise is that he hasn't played in five weeks and is still sore from ankle and jaw injuries.

"I am very pleasantly surprised," Kim said. "My body is not 100 percent healthy right now, and to be able to shoot under par on a tough golf course, especially when there's some tricky pins out there and the rough is penal sometimes, it's given me quite a bit of confidence going into next year — and especially tomorrow."

Even more amazing in the rust department is Furyk.

He hasn't played since winning the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda on Oct. 15 and figured the layoff would catch up with him at some point during the week. But he has been steady all week at Sherwood, until the final hole.

Furyk holed birdie putts of 6 feet and 8 feet going to the final hole when he blocked his tee shot toward the trees, but caught a good break when the ball was sitting up in the thick grass on the side of a hill.

It might have been too good.

Needing to sweep the ball instead of attacking it because of how it was sitting up in the grass, Furyk was too aggressive and went down on the ball. Contact came high on the club face, and Furyk didn't have to see a splash to know what happened.

"I knew when I hit it I had no chance of getting there," Furyk said.

He took his drop, spun his fourth shot by the cup but missed a 7-foot bogey putt. He figured everyone else among the 16-man field has made a double bogey or worse this week — only Stricker, Mahan and Fred Couples have avoided that — and his came on the 18th.

But he's still in good shape, among five players separated by two shots going into the final round of the year.

"If you had told me three days ago that I'd be one shot back going into the last round, I would have taken it," Furyk said.

Then again, Furyk had to take two months off because of a freak wrist injury at the end of the 2000 season, and he won his first tournament back at the Mercedes Championship in Kapalua.

Kim felt as though his putting suffered the most this week, but he found something with his birdie on the fifth hole and was solid the rest of the way. His most impressive birdie might have come at the short par-4 10th, when his drive landed well left in thick rough on the side of a hill. The ball was in a divot, with rocks in the dirt.

"Because it was deep, I didn't know exactly how far down I had to throw that lob wedge," Kim said. "I just got lucky there. I made a good swing, but you need a little bit of luck when you get lies like that."