Kapalua in Trouble: Water Shortage Threatens PGA Tour Tournament
The Hawaii golf course, home to the tournament that opens the PGA Tour season, faces serious challenges. For the seventh consecutive day, the course is without irrigation, which complicates the preparation of the Plantation course in Kapalua for the January tournament. The situation stems from a dispute with Maui Land & Pineapple (MLP) over its century-old water system on Maui, which supplies irrigation to the west side of the island. Kapalua Golf Resort decided to close the course on September 2 for two months to protect the turf, including vertical cuts to remove dead grass and allow for better water absorption, as well as applying slow-release fertilizers. However, the situation worsened when MLP went from a Level 2 restriction (60% of normal irrigation) to Level 4 (no irrigation) over the weekend. Kapalua has not watered the Plantation course since August 29.The core of the dispute is the 11-mile system of Honokohau Stream and Ditch, which originates from the West Maui mountains and supplies irrigation water to the Kapalua area. Tadashi Yanai, the Japanese billionaire owner of Kapalua and founder of the clothing brand Uniqlo, along with the homeowners of Kapalua and Hua Momona Farms, filed a lawsuit on August 18 against MLP, alleging that it has not maintained the water supply system. Maui Land & Pineapple claims to have made “certain repairs and improvements to the ditch system” as ordered by the Commission on Water Resource Management and that all its actions are “consistent with the agreements between MLP and the golf courses”. The PGA Tour has been in Kapalua since 1982, initially as part of the unofficial end-of-year season before becoming the season-opening tournament in 1999. Wisconsin-based Sentry Insurance is the title sponsor of a tournament that, according to officials, brings in about $50 million to the area. Kapalua previously warned that another Level 4 closure would be devastating for the turf, already depleted by months without irrigation. The recovery of the course was already uncertain under Level 2. The second forced inactivity makes the preparation of the Plantation course for PGA Tour standards in January even more arduous and precarious. Nakajima couldn’t specify how much longer the course could survive without water before jeopardizing the start of the PGA Tour season (January 5-11). “The longer we wait, the worse it is for us,” he concluded.We have all the plans to act. But without water, we can’t do anything. It’s difficult.
Alex Nakajima, General Manager of Kapalua Golf and Tennis
