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

“From what my doctor told me it was pretty standard clean up,” he told Golfweek via phone on Wednesday. “He said it would be helpful and so I did it.”

Finau’s WD from the Hero and the fact he hasn’t officially registered for the Sentry, the kickoff to the 2025 PGA Tour season, fueled speculation on social media that Finau, ranked No. 26 in the Official World Golf Ranking and one of the game’s most popular players off of his appearance in Netflix’s “Full Swing” documentary, may be headed to LIV Golf.

“They’re not true,” he said of the rumors and called the sources “random people” and “not credible.” He continued. “I’m more than happy where I’m at on the PGA Tour and looking forward to 2025. When I tee it up in Maui, it will all go away, so, I don’t worry about it one bit.”

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 the Sentry, which begins Jan. 2. For now, Finau is still working his way back to full strength and was a late scratch last week from the Hero Challenge, a tournament he has competed in the last four years with a career-best of second in 2018. He had never finished worse than T-7.

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

Finau said the knee had bothered him all season, but he was able to wait until after playing for the victorious U.S. side at the Presidents Cup before undergoing surgery. He didn’t hurt his knee on a particular shot, but his doctor said the injury was caused by wear and tear through the years. Particles of cartilage 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 issue with his right knee in previous seasons but opted out of surgery on his right knee, choosing to do therapy and training.

Finau is currently scheduled to compete in the Grant Thornton Invitational, a team event with the LPGA where he is paired with Nelly Korda. Finau is a Grant Thornton ambassador and while playing two weeks in a row seemed to be too much too soon, he said his knee is improving and said he’s 50-50 for next week, noting he’s still having trouble getting out of bunkers and putting weight on his lead leg on bunker shots.

“That’s my biggest issue right now,” he said. “I’ll go over and practice the next couple of days and 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 go on the PGA Tour in January.

“The last couple of seasons have been kind of rough with my knees,” he said. “I’m optimistic about this coming season about being more fully healthy than ever.”