NASSAU, Bahamas – There’s a good explanation as to why Tony Finau withdrew from the Hero World Challenge this week. Finau underwent surgery on October 15 to repair a torn meniscus and remove cartilage from his left knee.

“From what my doctor told me, it was a normal cleaning,” he said Golf week by phone on Wednesday. “He said it would be helpful, so I did it.”

Finau’s WD from the Hero and the fact that he has not officially registered for the Sentry, the opener of the 2025 PGA Tour season, led to speculation on social media that Finau was ranked No. 26 in the Official World Golf Ranking and one of the game’s golfers stands The most popular player from his appearance in the Netflix documentary “Full Swing” may be heading to LIV Golf.

“They are not true,” he said of the rumors, calling the sources “random people” and “not credible.” He continued. “I’m more than happy where I’m at on the PGA Tour and I’m looking forward to 2025. When I hit Maui everything will go away, so I’m not worried about that at all.”

Tony Finau plays his shot from the cart path along the first fairway during the first round of the 2024 Tour Championship. (John David Mercer – USA TODAY Sports)

Finau, 35, said his knee will be “ready to rock and roll” in time for Sentry, which begins Jan. 2. For now, Finau is still working on getting back to full strength and suffered a late scratch last week at the Hero Challenge, a tournament he has competed in for the past four years, earning a career-best second place finish in 2018. He had never finished worse than T-7.

“I called Tiger and made sure he knew,” Finau said. “He said, ‘I would have told you to do the same thing.’ ”

Finau said the knee had bothered him all season, but he was able to wait to have surgery until he played for the victorious U.S. team in the Presidents Cup. One particular shot did not injure his knee, but his doctor said the injury was due to wear and tear over the years. Cartilage particles had been floating around in his knee and causing inflammation. He hasn’t been able to bend down to read putts for several years, he said.

Finau had a similar problem with his right knee in previous seasons, but decided against right knee surgery and opted for therapy and training.

Finau is currently scheduled to compete in the Grant Thornton Invitational, an LPGA team event where he will compete with Nelly Korda. Finau is a Grant Thornton ambassador and while it seemed like too much, too soon to play two weeks in a row, he said his knee is improving and he is at 50-50 for next week, noting that he still has difficulty getting out of bunkers and putting weight on his lead leg on bunker shots.

“That’s my biggest problem right now,” he said. “I’ll come and practice in the next few days, see how I feel and make a decision.”

But Finau is pleased with the progress his knee is making and is confident he will be ready to hit the PGA Tour in January.

“The last few seasons have been pretty hard on my knees,” he said. “I am optimistic that I will be healthier than ever next season.”