The Cancelled Sentry: The PGA Tour Adapts to the Crisis in Maui
The PGA Tour has made the decision to cancel its inaugural tournament, The Sentry, instead of seeking an alternative course for the event in Kapalua, Maui, due to water scarcity. This measure marks the first cancellation of a tournament since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The Sony Open in Honolulu will be the first tournament of 2026, scheduled from January 15 to 18. This date represents the latest start to a season since the PGA Tour was formed in 1969. The organization and Sentry Insurance, based in Wisconsin, had considered other fields to host the event, which has a prize pool of $20 million and is aimed at PGA Tour winners and the top 50 of the FedEx Cup. However, they chose to suspend the tournament.Kapalua was forced to close its two courses in Maui, due to severe water restrictions imposed by a dispute with the company in charge of the water supply system. The Sony Open is in its final year of title sponsorship, raising uncertainty about Hawaii’s place on the PGA Tour schedule after this year. The announcement of The Sentry’s cancellation coincided with Kapalua’s announcement that the Plantation Course will reopen on November 10, with tee times available starting Thursday at a promotional rate of $399. It was reported that two of the 18 greens were still in the process of restoration.“I’m very proud of what The Sentry has become; I didn’t want ’26 to be any less,” commented Stephanie Smith, Sentry’s director of marketing and brand, who oversees the golf partnership that began in 2018. The sponsorship extends until 2035.
Stephanie Smith
The Sentry has been the first PGA Tour event each year since 1999, except in 2001, when the season began in Australia with a World Golf Championship. Several players from the Kapalua field used to participate in the Sony Open in Oahu.
Seven PGA Tour winners, including Aldrich Potgieter and Min Woo Lee, did not qualify among the top 50 in the FedEx Cup. To compensate for the lack of participation in Kapalua, they will be added to the field of the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head the week after the Masters. 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 in August against Maui Land & Pineapple, alleging that it has not maintained the water supply system. MLP filed a counterclaim, and both parties have exchanged accusations since then. The Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management notified MLP two weeks ago about alleged violations of the water supply system, with fines that could reach $11 million. MLP has until November 8 to respond.Meanwhile, the two Kapalua courses went from emerald green to yellow due to water restrictions, leading to a closure in September of at least two months to try to save them. The tour announced on September 16 that it would not be able to hold The Sentry at Kapalua.
Smith did not reveal which other fields were considered. A year ago, the Genesis Invitational had to move from Riviera in Los Angeles due to the devastating wildfires in Pacific Palisades. It was relocated for a year to Torrey Pines, which still had all its infrastructure in place after having hosted a PGA Tour event three weeks earlier. “After evaluating alternative venues in Hawaii and beyond, the tour determined that it would not be able to hold The Sentry in 2026 due to logistical challenges, including shipping deadlines, tournament infrastructure, and vendor support,” the tour said in a statement. The Sentry has one of the longest title sponsorship agreements with the tour. It remains to be determined whether it will return to Kapalua in 2027, a year in which significant changes are expected due to a renewed schedule. Tiger Woods leads a “Future Competition Committee” to shape the tour. That committee is about to meet for the first time. When asked about the future of The Sentry in Maui in 2027, Smith replied: “It’s hard to say at this moment.” “We are committed to playing The Sentry,” he affirmed. “We know from our conversations with the tour that The Sentry will be on the schedule. There are many factors at play right now. What’s happening on the island? Will the water issue be resolved? Will the course be playable? What about the lawsuits that are being settled?” “We’ve had good conversations,” he added. “We are committed to playing The Sentry again at the level we’ve had in the past.” The Sony Open becomes the seventh tournament to start the year since the tour began.