HONOLULU (AP) — Billy Horschel returned from five months away for hip surgery wanting to play three times to see how his hip and his game felt. His final stop was the Bank of Utah Championship the last week in October, a tie for 11th that kept him at No. 40 in the world.

He knew it was going to be close without checking on the Official World Golf Ranking math, and it was. Even with a late invitation to the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, where he finished 15th, Horschel slipped out of the top 50 in the world by the end of the year.

He goes into 2026 without an invitation to the Masters, and with no regrets that he didn't add another tournament to try to assure being top 50 by the end of the year.

“Before Utah, I was thinking about playing Bermuda and Cabo (Mexico),” Horschel said at the Sony Open. “But I got what I needed out of my three events. I was trying to get back into the groove of things, see where my game was.”

HONOLULU (AP) — Brooks Koepka to return to the PGA Tour under one-time deal with stiff financial penalty.

LECANTO, Fla. (AP) — Anthony Kim gets another season on LIV Golf and this time he earned it, finishing among the top three players over the final 36 holes of the qualifying tournament at Black Diamond who get a full year on the Saudi-funded league.

Kim, who stepped away from golf for 12 years amid drug and alcohol struggles, had a 1-under 69 to make it with two shots to spare.

“I’m not here to prove everybody wrong, I’m here to prove myself right," Kim said.

Richard T. Lee of Canada had a 65 and was medalist by five shots over Bjorn Hellgren of Sweden, who had a 64. Lee finished at 11-under 129. Kim was six shots behind.