Kapalua Golf Resort in Crisis: PGA Tournament at Risk Due to Water Shortage
The Hawaiian golf course, home to the tournament that opens the PGA Tour season, faces serious challenges. For the seventh consecutive day, the course has not received water for irrigation, which endangers the preparation of the Plantation course at Kapalua for the January tournament. The situation is exacerbated by a dispute with Maui Land & Pineapple, which operates the century-old water system that irrigates the west side of Maui. This controversy has led to the suspension of irrigation, severely affecting the maintenance of the field. Last week, Kapalua Golf Resort made the decision to close the course on September 2nd for two months, with the aim of preserving the turf. This included measures such as vertically cutting the grass to remove dead grass and improve water absorption, along with the application of slow-release fertilizers. However, the situation worsened when Maui Land & Pineapple went from a Level 2 restriction (60% of normal irrigation) to Level 4 (no irrigation) over the weekend. Since August 29, the Plantation field has not been irrigated.At the center of the dispute is the 11-mile Honokohau Stream and Ditch system, which originates in 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 Maui Land & Pineapple, alleging lack of maintenance of the water supply system. Maui Land & Pineapple has stated that it has made “certain repairs and improvements to the ditch system” as indicated by the Commission on Water Resource Management and that all its actions are “consistent with the agreements between Maui Land & Pineapple and the golf courses”. The PGA Tour has been in Kapalua since 1982, first as part of the unofficial end-of-year season before becoming the season-opening event in 1999. Wisconsin-based Sentry Insurance is the title sponsor of a tournament that, according to officials, brings about $50 million to the area.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
Nakajima couldn’t specify how much longer the course could survive without water before the start of the PGA Tour season (January 5-11) was put in jeopardy. “The longer we wait, the worse it is for us,” he concluded.We previously warned that another Level 4 closure would be devastating to the already depleted turf after months without irrigation. With the recovery of the course already uncertain under Level 2, a second forced inactivity makes the preparation of the Plantation Course for PGA Tour standards for January even more arduous and tenuous.
Kapalua Statement
