Citing a desire to see both habitat restoration and affordable public golf at Sharp Park golf course, San Francisco mayor Edwin Lee on Monday vetoed legislation that would have transferred the supervision of the site to the National Park Service and likely shuttered the 1932 Alister Mackenzie design.

In a letter communicating his veto to San Francisco's board of supervisors, which voted 6-5 for the ordinance Dec. 13, Lee noted ongoing environmental analysis by the city's Recreation and Park Department that would restore 19 acres of habitat as well as negotiations with San Mateo County for a long-term partnership to manage the course.

Related: A photo essay of historic Sharp Park

Sharp Park, located in Pacifica, Calif., has been under attack by conservation groups concerned about the health of a frog and snake species that live there, but the mayor's veto gives the course renewed hope about its future.

"The ordinance that I am vetoing would bring these productive discussions to a halt, and instead compel the Department to begin dialogue anew with the National Park Service about closing the golf course at Sharp Park," Lee wrote. "I believe in striving for equilibrium between environmental and recreational needs. The implicit aim of this legislation -- cutting off talks with San Mateo County and envisioning the end of golf operations at Sharp Park -- is not a balanced approach ..."

-- Bill Fields
Follow on Twitter: @BillFields1

For scores of folks in and around San Francisco, a man named Ed Lee is now the most important golfer in the world.

Lee is the mayor of San Francisco, said to play the game. But over the next 10 days, unless he makes the right call, many golfers in the Bay Area will likely lose a course they love to play, a course that has been open since 1932, a municipal course that starkly defies many of the negative and clichéd stereotypes those who dislike golf love to perpetuate. The muny is accessible and inexpensive, enjoyed by people of various collars and colors.

Environmental opponents of Sharp Park golf course in Pacifica., Calif. -- in the name of saving an imperiled reptile and an amphibian that, according to other smart folks, with a bit of work, can happily coexist with the Alister Mackenzie design -- have been trying for a couple of years to shut it down. On Tuesday they got as close as they have come to getting that done.

Photo by Bill Fields

The board of supervisors in San Francisco, which controls Sharp Park even though it is located in suburban Pacifica, voted 6-5 to transfer management of Sharp Park to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The ordinance doesn't stipulate that the course definitely would be closed, but that is scant encouragement to those who play approximately 50,000 rounds a year at Sharp Park and tireless advocates who want to preserve the golf ground shaped by one of the sport's most significant architects.

From the Dec. 12 issue of Golf World Monday:

For all the angst it has caused since it began in 1965, PGA Tour Qualifying School has also been a gateway of dreams and an on-ramp to bigger things. Survive the stress, earn a card -- the rest was up to you. It's no surprise, then, that news of the potential demise of this enduring institution after 2012 has created a lot of chatter.

Brendon Todd was recently medalist at Q School.

The PGA Tour is considering changes that would stop Q school from being a direct path to the PGA Tour. Currently, cards go to the top 25 on the Nationwide Tour money list (the class of 2011 is shown) and 25 from Q school.

Instead, all 50 PGA Tour cards would be determined through a three-tournament series comprised of Nos. 1-75 on the Nationwide Tour money list and 75 players (Nos. 126-200) who didn't qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs. Q school would be only for earning status on the Nationwide Tour.

Several factors are behind the potential shake-up, including the PGA Tour's attempt to obtain a new sponsor for the developmental circuit after Nationwide departs next year and the fact that players with Nationwide Tour experience have retained their PGA Tour cards at a much higher percentage than those without it (87 percent vs. 13 percent in the last six years).

Related: Five historic Q School grads

Still, during that same period J.B. Holmes, Anthony Kim, Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson and Rickie Fowler (among others) went from college to Q school to PGA Tour success. The success of those young stars, a couple of whom the tour utilizes in its marketing, will make it difficult to completely end Q school as we know it.

-- Bill Fields

(Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Are you a fan of Golf World's weekly "Front 9" magazine feature? If so, you have a chance to help write it.

Inspired by The New Yorker's cartoon-caption writing contest, Golf World is now featuring the "Front 9 Punchline Contest" every week. Here's how it works. Every Sunday afternoon, Golf World's editors will post a Front 9 setup line to our magazine's Facebook page. Readers will have approximately 24 hours to enter their best punchlines to that set up.

(An example from a recent Front 9: Yani Tseng wins in China for her 11th title of 2011. Come to think of it, if the LPGA played a 1995 schedule, Tseng could match Nelson's streak.)

Golf World editors will then select the winning entry, which will appear (along with the writer's name and hometown) in that week's issue of Golf World. In addition to having their entry published in the magazine, winners will receive an official Golf World logo hat.

Our last winner was Daniel Fargo of Medina, Ohio, whose winning entry appeared in the Nov. 28 issue of the magazine:

Set-up line: The U.S. wins the Presidents Cup, 19-15, with Tiger Woods scoring the clinching point.

The winning punchline: "Looks like there's some progress in Tiger's Process Down Under."

-- Geoff Russell, Golf World Editor-In-Chief

After 53 tournaments in 26 countries and what the European Tour likes to call 29 "destinations," it has come down to this: the world's two top-ranked golfers, one strong probability and a correspondingly slim chance.

For Rory McIlroy, nothing less than a victory in the grandly titled Dubai World Championship will do, if he is to have any hope of winning the season-long "Race to Dubai" -- what was once the Order of Merit. And even if the U.S. Open champion does follow up his latest victory in Hong Kong with another win against 57 of the 60 highest earners on the European Tour this year (expectant father Justin Rose and the injured Fredrik Jacobson are missing), a tie for ninth spot this week alongside one other player will be enough for (34 today) Luke Donald to hold off the young Irishman on the money list. Should that very scenario come to pass, Donald will, unbelievably, finish first by the measly sum of €5.

Still, for all that he is the unlikeliest of eventual champions, McIlroy was making hopeful noises before the off. "I've had some success around this course," insisted the man who has finished third and fifth in the two previous editions of this season-ending climax. "This time though, I've got to win and hope that Luke doesn't do what he has been doing all year and finish in the top-ten. So it's going to be a tough ask. But I'll give it my best to finish the year on a high."

Even world number three Lee Westwood -- winner of the inaugural event here two years ago, when he also clinched the money title -- was making positive noises regarding a possible showdown between the game's best players, statistically speaking at least.

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- Brendon Todd, who played the PGA Tour in 2009, shot a second consecutive 68 on Monday to earn medalist honors and $50,000 at the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament at PGA West here.

Among those who earned PGA Tour cards for 2012 were Seung-yul Noh, a 20-year-old from South Korea and former PGA Tour winners Bob Estes, Jeff Maggert and Vaughn Taylor. Among those who missed were Arnold Palmer's grandson, Sam Saunders, who finished T109; David Duval (T72); Lee Janzen (T38) and Ty Tryon (158th).

Twenty-nine PGA Tour cards were issued. Here is the class of 2011:

BRENDON TODD: 26...Played the PGA Tour in 2009 and finished 186th on the money list...Won once on the Nationwide Tour...Was on an NCAA championship team at the University of Georgia.

STEPHEN GANGLUFF: 36...Member of the PGA Tour in 2002 and the Nationwide Tour in four of the ensuing nine years...Played at Ohio State.

BOBBY GATES: 25...Three-putted his final hole of 2011 tour season to finish 126th on the money list, forcing a return to Q School...A Texas A&M graduate.

SEUNG-YUL NOH: 20...from South Korea...Won the 2010 Maybank Malaysian Open at 18 years, 282 days to become the second youngest winner in European Tour history at the time(Danny Lee, 18 years, 212 days held the record that has since been broken by Matteo Manassero).

TOMMY BIERSHENK: 38...Will be a PGA Tour rookie in 2012...Played five years on the Nationwide Tour, most recently in 2011, when he finished 33rd on the money list.

VAUGHN TAYLOR: 35...A two-time winner on the PGA Tour (the Reno-Tahoe Open in 2004 and '05)...Has earned more than $10 million, but lost his card in 2011 after seven straight seasons of earning $1 million or more.

JARROD LYLE: 30...Native Australian...Has played the PGA Tour the last three years without retaining his card...Won twice on the Nationwide Tour in 2008.

BOB ESTES: 45...Joined the PGA Tour in 1989...Won four tournaments and nearly $20 million.

BRIAN HARMAN: 24...2003 U.S. Junior Amateur champion...Won two tournaments at the University of Georgia...Played on two U.S. Walker Cup teams.

MARCO DAWSON: 48...Has played 13 seasons on the PGA Tour, the first in 1991...Best finish was second in the Greater Milwaukee Open in 1995...Won once on the Nationwide Tour.

SONG-MOON BAE: 25...From South Korea...Won three times on the Japan Golf Tour in 2011...Has three Asian Tour victories.

KEVIN KISNER: 27...PGA Tour member in 2011 and finished 181st on the money list...Played on Georgia's NCAA championship team in 2005...Won the Mylan Classic on the Nationwide Tour in 2010.

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- Former U.S. Amateur and U.S. Amateur Public Links champion Colt Knost went from an emotional high to an emotional low and finally just relief that the Q School ordeal was over.

Knost, who finished 174th on the PGA Tour money list necessitating a return to the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, was 10-under par through 17 holes on Monday and safely inside the top 25 when he hit his tee shot on 18 at the Nicklaus Tournament Course into the water. It led to a double-bogey.

"I thought I was done," Knost said. "I thought I had no chance."

When he got to the scoring trailer, he discovered that eight-under par was the number and that he had retained his PGA Tour card. Rather than celebrating, he was more relieved.

"I really thought I was fine, all day," he said. "I thought I had a shot or two to play with on 18. I hit a tee shot I didn't really expect to hit. That was kind of the pressure, I guess. I didn't really know where I stood. I kind of had an idea. If I'd known I had a couple to play with I probably would have blown it way left. I'd been hitting it pretty good all day. That shot came out of nowhere. I made my worst swing of the day at the wrong time. I tried to hit a little cut there and totally whiffed it.

"A tough finish, but it looks like I'm going to make it through."

-- John Strege

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- Four former University of Georgia players, three of whom have not played the PGA Tour, are in the top 12 midway through the final round of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament at PGA West. The top 25 and ties earn tour exemptions for 2012.

Kevin Kisner, who played the tour this year, but was unable to retain his exemption, is tied for 12th. Brendan Todd and Brian Harman are tied for first (with Bobby Gates and Stephen Gangluff). Harris English is tied for ninth.

-- John Strege

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- South Korea is likely to send two more players to the PGA Tour next year, which would run its number of exports to four in two years.

Last year, Bio Kim and Sunghoon Kang finished in the top 25 in the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament to earn PGA Tour membership.

Now Seung-yul Noh and Sang-Moon Bae are tied for fourth and tied for seventh, respectively in the midst of their final rounds at PGA West. Neither appearing on the leaderboard is particularly surprising.

Last year, while still 18, Noh became the second youngest winner in European Tour history when he won the Maybank Malaysian Open. Bae is ranked 30th in the world.

-- John Strege