The PGA Tour said on Tuesday that Hawaii’s Kapalua Resort is leaving Hawaii’s Kapalua Resort for the season-opening game.
The PGA Tour has started annually on Kapalua plantation courses since 1999, except in 2001 when the season began in Australia and then went to Kapalua in West Maui.
What is still decided is where to move, or when, when to, the Sentry, the top 50 PGA Tour winners of 2025 and the top 50 FedEx Cup, to the Sentry. It was scheduled to be held from January 8th to 11th.
This decision will not affect the Sony Open on Oahu that will take place the following week.
Brian Rolapp, CEO of PGA Tour Enterprises, spoke with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green in consultation with Wisconsin Sentry Insurans, Kapalua Resort and Maui County.
“The PGA Tour has determined that Sentry performances in 2026 will not be contested on Kapalua’s plantation course due to ongoing drought conditions, water conservation requirements, agricultural conditions and logistical challenges,” the tour said in a statement.
The logistics of vendors and shipping supplies for performing tournaments on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean were also taken into consideration.
Maui is dealing with a drought condition that has affected 140,000 residents, and its water conservation obligation is intended to prioritize the island’s needs.
“Given the drought situation Maui is facing, I support the decision on the PGA Tour,” Green said in a statement. “Protecting our water and supporting our community is the first thing to do. Sentry has been showing us the beauty of Maui for a long time, giving back to local nonprofits.”
Kapalua officials say the tournament has had a $50 million economic impact on the region.
Sentry, which has been in a title sponsorship agreement until 2035, has signed the decision taking into account the circumstances facing West Maui.
“As we’ve said for years, Maui is a sentry community, unlike our hometown in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and that’s true. Our community is connected. We’ve formed meaningful friendships across the island.
At the heart of the water conflict is the claim that Mauiland & Pineapple, which operates a system of ditches of a century that provides irrigation water to Kapalua and its residents, has not maintained repairs that have descended from the mountains and affected the water.
Juamona Farms, the homeowner of Kapalua, a Japanese billionaire who owns Kapalua and founded the apparel brand Uniqlo, has filed a lawsuit against MLP, claiming that the water supply system is not maintained.
“It’s not God’s actions, the power of nature, or anything else, but the reason why users who need it are currently lacking water,” the lawsuit states.
The MLP, as directed by the Water Resources Management Committee, “specific repairs and improvements to the groove system,” and all of its actions were “consistent with the agreement between the MLP and the golf course.”
Kapalua Resort closed its plantation for two months on September 2nd. However, there was a set-off when Hawaiian water commissioners and MLPs raised restrictions to ban all irrigation.
Kapalua announced Monday that Bay Course will be closing indefinitely to divert small irrigation allowed to be used to save the plantations.
In recent weeks, both sides have been accused of the other. In a statement last week, the MLP said that Kapalua used more than 1 million gallons a day in two days and half the volume of the well, leading to more severe restrictions.
Yanai’s company – Kapalua’s irrigation has a central control system and said that water usage is based on science. A spokesman for the company said Kapalua followed every mission even when MLP and Hawaii Water Services unexpectedly imposed an irrigation ban while the course was preparing to take steps to save it.
Kapalua has been part of the PGA Tour since hosting an unpopular, unofficial event on the Bay Course in November 1982, and opened in 1991, then held a plantation. This was the first design by Billcour and Ben Crenshaw.
The PGA Tour Champions will host the season opener at Big Island from January 23rd to 25th, with LPGAs usually visiting Hawaii in early October.
The next step is to decide where or when you want to play the tournament at the Sony Open, especially the following week. Before going to Kapalua in 1999, it was held for many years at Lasca Resort in Carlsbad, California.
The PGA Tour added Trump Doral near Miami to its 2026 schedule in April. The title sponsor for the tournament has not been announced.
