Troubleshooting Tiger Woods isn't necessarily easy, but in the wake of his latest setback it warrants an effort. He has a blown head gasket and is in need of a psychological mechanic.

Woods once possessed the strongest mind in sports, willing the ball into the hole from everywhere and shredding misguided optimists, especially on Sundays. Tiger owned Sundays, but these days they're in foreclosure.

Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images

On the Pebble Beach Golf Links on which a substantial part of his legacy was carved, Woods was witness to a mirror image of himself, circa 2000 -- a left-hander, fearless and confident, working the ball around the course and holing acres of putts while burying the field.

Worse for Woods was that he assumed the role in which he once routinely cast others -- the hapless, beaten-down victim. His arch rival Phil Mickelson applied early pressure on Sunday and Woods deflated.

Related: Key moments in the past two turbulent years for Tiger Woods

You've got to hand it to Kyle Stanley, and Spencer Levin benevolently did so on Sunday, reiterating vividly what Stanley had recognized only a week before: Golf can be a pain in the...

Well, just note that those were chunks of cactus that caddie Mike Hicks was plucking from Levin's backside adjacent to the 15th fairway at TPC Scottsdale. Levin's bid for a first PGA Tour victory was undone by the toxic mix of sand, water and jumping cholla.

It was no less painful to watch than Stanley's implosion in his own bid for victory No. 1 a week earlier, when he needed no worse than a seven at the 72nd hole to win the Farmers Insurance Open, made eight, and lost in a playoff.

"That's golf," Stanley said, attempting to explain the inexplicable.

The upshot was that the Waste Management Phoenix Open was a tournament lost instead of won, notwithstanding the six-under par 65 registered by its winner by default, Stanley, who might have clinched the 2012 PGA Tour comeback player of the year award. He overcame an eight-shot deficit in a single round only a week after his own devasting loss.

(Related: Golf's Biggest Bouncebacks)

Levin, 27 and ostensibly on the cusp of stardom, had a seven-stroke lead at one point on Saturday, a six-stroke lead entering play on Sunday, a four-stroke lead with nine holes to play and lost by two. He double-bogeyed the par-5 15th by hitting his tee shot into a a group of cactus, using his putter and his caddie to extract the ball and cactus, respectively, then hitting a 5-iron into the water. He shot 75, the highest round registered by anyone in the top 60.

"The one and only Tiger Woods," the announcer said at the 18th green of the Abu Dhabi Golf Club on Sunday, as an imposter wearing a red shirt but otherwise bearing no resemblance to the one and only made his way onto the green.

The final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Champions provided a perfect platform from which to make a resounding statement, that the throne that Woods ceded when a fire hydrant came between him and has assault on history was only on loan.

Woods was beating an elite field that included Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer, numbers 1 through 4 in the World Ranking, and he shared the lead with Robert Rock, a former club pro, who was "struggling to crack the 100 mark [in the World Ranking]," he said.

Winning once was a formality in such circumstances, his the most imposing shadow in the history of golf. He routinely feasted on the best players, winning 14 major championships and 16 World Golf Championship events.

But Sundays no longer are scripted and Rock was better at improvisation on this one. He shot a two-under par 70 that included clutch birdies at 14 and 16 while Woods made eight straight pars to close with a 72 and tied for third.

This was about Hope and change and an American president, though not about politics. The Humana Challenge, as this PGA Tour event is now called, is the Bob Hope Classic re-imagined in the interest of its own survival and of those contributing to an increasingly sedentary populace.

So, how did it do?

Mark Wilson walked away with a winner's check, but the headliner at the Humana was unquestionably President Bill Clinton. Photo by Getty Images

Artistically, it might have been better, though in the interest of the cause the tournament was advocating it was perhaps in its best interests that heavyweights Brendon de Jong or Jarrod Lyle did not win. There also was the big blow that was responsible for the third-round suspension and explains the thousands of windmills that decorate the San Gorgonio Pass on either side of Interstate 10 west of La Quinta, Calif.

Related: Wilson holds off field for win

Then also was the winner, who was not Palmer or Nicklaus or even Mickelson, all of them past champions who brought it prestige. Then again, the host of this tournament historically has been the star of this show, as was the case again.

KAPALUA, Hawaii - The prospect of Tiger Woods returning to form reminiscent of his dominant days is something that intrigues Tim Finchem as the PGA Tour embarks on the 2012 season, but the tour's commissioner isn't convinced that Woods returning to the victory circle for the first time since 2009 and resuming his quest to break Jack Nicklaus' record is necessary for golf's future growth.

"The PGA Tour grew when Jack Nicklaus was winning. It grew when he stopped winning and it's grown with Tiger winning. It doesn't matter to us," Finchem said Sunday at the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort. "We can grow with one player dominant or we can work with more wide-open competition. The fans like it and are interested in it both ways."

Finchem, on hand for the season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions, was asked about Woods' potential impact on the game's popularity and television ratings in 2012 after showing signs of getting his game untracked late last year at the Presidents Cup and at his own Chevron World Challenge, which he won with birdies on the final two holes at Sherwood CC in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

"From 1996 until two years ago the one question I got everyday was that, 'Can you tell me how great his impact is on the PGA Tour?' Now we've gone through a little bit of a respite on that and we're getting back into it," Finchem said. "The overriding thing about Tiger is that because he transcends the sport and he's as big a personality as he is a golfer, generally, that he creates interest in the sport. He creates more focus. That's good stuff. The better he plays the more that will be. I just hope that if he gets back on a tear, that television and media will continue to focus on the great play of other guys and not get overwhelmed by it. But if he goes out and wins six tournaments this year, that's probably going to happen.

"I just want to see him play well because he's fantastic," Finchem added. "He's been great for the game. To have him in a few years maybe getting close to Jack's record and maybe Sam Snead's record - I always tell Tiger forget Jack's record, go after Sam Snead's record; it's probably harder for him to get - that would be great for the game."

-- Dave Shedloski

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

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- David Feherty has always been entertaining, but now apparently he's an entertainer.

A flyer distributed in the PGA West clubhouse here advertises, "An evening with David Feherty Live and Uncensored!"

It is scheduled for Jan. 20, Friday night of the Humana Challenge here, at the La Quinta Resort & Club. Tickets are $125, $150 and $175, with a VIP ticket, which includes premier seating and a pre-show cocktail party wtih Feherty, for $225. Tickets can be purchased at tix.com.

"His brand of humor will leave your sides aching and you wanting more," it says on the website, DavidFehertyLive.com

-- John Strege