When Tony Finau announced his participation in the Hero World Challenge last year, many wondered if he would switch his allegiances over to LIV Golf for the 2025 season. However, things did not turn out the way it was expected.

While the reason behind his withdrawal from the Hero World Challenge remained unclear, Finau, in a conversation with Golfweek, shared how he pulled off because of a knee injury. “From what my doctor told me, it was a pretty standard cleanup. He said it would be helpful, and so I did it”, shared Finau, explaining why he withdrew from the Tiger Woods event. Alongside that, he also confirmed that the rumors that have been swirling about him joining LIV Golf are false. However, his denial of the LIV Golf move a year ago is seemingly putting his career in the shadows of uncertainty.

Currently, Tony Finau isn’t automatically eligible for any of the 2026 golf majors, going by official exemption lists and qualification rules. Currently, he is not meeting the long-term exemption criteria. That includes being a recent major winner, top 50 in the world, or a recent FedExCup finalist. Pointing this out, Golf journalist Matt Chivers wrote on his X account, “This probably means very little, and I imagine he’ll play at least the PGA Championship… But right now, Tony Finau isn’t eligible for any of the majors in 2026.”

Although his being a part of the exempted players list doesn’t mean he won’t play them, it still declares that he hasn’t yet secured guaranteed entry based on his 2024–25 results. While it might not be putting the 36-year-old golfer’s career in trouble, it might be tough for him to lock up automatic spots in next year’s majors. Amid this, Tony Finau recently backed off of another important event.

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Tony Finau’s ongoing struggles continue with his latest tournament withdrawal

Tony Finau’s struggles with his career have been continuing for quite a while now. As he did not sign up for LIV, the 36-year-old has been missing PGA Tour events as well. Only a month back, it was reported that Finau had withdrawn from the Baycurrent Classic in Japan. While Sam Ryder replaced him, no official explanations were offered for his withdrawal. However, before the Baycurrent Classic, Finau did play at the DP World Tour at the Dunhill Links in Scotland. 

Unfortunately, looking at his career graph this year, the 6x PGA Tour winner seemed to be struggling throughout. In fact, the Dunhill Links marked Finau’s first start in eight weeks on Tour. To make matters worse, the 36-year-old could notch up just a solitary top-10 finish this year. It came at the Genesis Invitational back in February, where Finau had a T5 finish. 

As a matter of fact, the golfing star’s sudden downfall can be attributed to his injury last year. Back in October 2024, Finau went under the knife for knee surgery. He had a torn meniscus and also had cartilage removed. And ever since his recovery, his form has been quite shaky. While he did sign up for 21 tournaments and also played all four majors, the results were far from satisfactory.

Back in April, Finau missed the cut at The Masters. Next up, he had finishes of T19, T38, and T56 at the US PGA, US Open, and The Open, respectively. Thus, as the unexpected news of the 6x PGA Tour winner denying LIV makes his career reach a shaky turn, it remains to be seen whether Finau wants to take time, work on his game before coming back in the future.