Tour may punt Sentry opener in 2026
Logistical challenge of finding suitable replacement for Kapalua may force cancellation
Hideki Matsuyama may not get to defend his 2025 Sentry win. (Ben Jared/PGA Tour via Getty Images)
The PGA Tour’s season-opening event for 2026 is without a home due to a water-usage issues at the picturesque Kapalua Resort on Maui. And now, it seems, there is a strong possibility the event will not be played at all.
While the PGA Tour is said to still be looking for an alternative location to move The Sentry, Mark Rolfing believes it is quite likely that the tour will cancel the event and begin the season on the neighboring island of Oahu for the Sony Open.
Rolfing is an unofficial ambassador for the tournament and longtime Hawaii resident who last week on a podcast hosted by Andy Johnson for the Fried Egg Golf newsletter said efforts need to shift to assuring the long-term health of the event in Hawaii. Sentry has a deal to serve as title sponsor through 2035.
“I don’t think there is any scenario where the Sentry can be played in 2026,” Rolfing said. “There’s all these conversations about why couldn’t we play somewhere else. The schedule is basically full. We’re 85 days away from the start of the tournament. It’s just too late. There’s just no time for planning.”
What used to be called the Tournament of Champions has been played at Kapalua’s par-73 Plantation Course since 1999. It brings together PGA Tour winners from the previous year as well as those who finished among the top 50 in the final FedEx Cup standings, making it a $20 million signature event.
But the PGA Tour announced on Sept. 17 that the event could not be played at Kapalua due to on-going drought conditions and a water dispute with local authorities that has led to lawsuits and a golf course that appears to be in disrepair. The tour said then it would seek to move the event, which was won last January by Hideki Matsuyama.
Canceling the Jan. 8-11 event would be a rare decision for the PGA Tour. Aside from during the 2020 pandemic, tournaments are rarely cancelled. Last year, the tour moved the Genesis Invitational from Los Angeles to San Diego in less than a month due to the wildfires that impacted Riviera Country Club.
The big difference there was the fact that Torrey Pines had hosted the Farmers Insurance Open. The infrastructure was already in place. To move the Sentry now, even with two months to prepare, presents numerous logistical challenges.
Early January is a difficult time of the year to find a place that can accommodate a PGA Tour event. And while the tour undoubtedly does not want to lose sponsorship and television rights revenue, the cost of moving and securing a new location might be prohibitive.
“We understand what happened and we need to really start thinking about 2027 for the Sentry and for the Sony Open (played a week later),” Rolfing said on the podcast. “Those two are joined at the hip in a way. And how do we overcome the issues that are starting to magnify themselves that are going to make it more complicated for Hawaii.”
Rolfing said Hawaii used to have more than 10 professional golf tournaments, a bounty that has been pared down to four. He is concerned that with talk of contraction at the PGA Tour, Hawaii — especially at the front end of the schedule in January — could be left out.
Another issue for the PGA Tour is the fact that its sponsorship deal with Sentry did not include an increase in the purse when it became a signature event two years ago. Perhaps that makes the decision easier to cancel.
All around, it’s a tough deal for Maui, for the resort, for the players who qualified — especially for those who won tournaments and are thus not otherwise eligible for signature events.
It’s not great for the Sony Open, either. With a one-off Hawaiian tournament, some of the bigger names might skip it since they’re not already in the neighborhood.
A decision on the tournament’s fate is expected soon.