The Sentry PGA Tour Tournament will not be held at the Kapalua Plantation Golf Course on Maui in January as drought conditions have left the course unplayable.
The PGA Tour announced Tuesday that the Sentry tournament, which has been held at the Kapalua Plantation every year since 1999, will break with that tradition in 2026. According to a PGA news statement, tournament officials sent an agronomy team to the course in early September and determined that the course had been “significantly compromised” by water limitations.
Because it is not possible to guarantee that site conditions can be improved to PGA standards by Jan. 5, the tournament has been canceled. PGA has suggested the Sentry will still be held in 2026, but details about where and when are still undetermined.
“It’s a blow to all of West Maui,” said Alex Nakajima, general manager for Kapalua Golf, during a news conference Tuesday. Kapalua Resort estimates that Sentry generates nearly $50 million for Maui’s economy each year.
Nakajima said he was notified of PGA’s decision only minutes before it was made public, but noted that drought impacts have been apparent for months. Kapalua Resort took measures to protect both the Plantation course and the Kapalua Bay Golf Course, closing both for 60 days on Sept. 2.
The resort also redirected all water resources from the Bay course to the Plantation course in an effort to keep the tournament on schedule, but to no avail.
“We’ve done everything we could,” Nakajima said, before suggesting that the situation could have been prevented. “Water management needs to be proactive … you capture water in the wet season so you can save it for the dry season.”
Despite the loss of the tournament and the temporary closure of both courses, Nakajima said the resort is committed to not laying off any employees.
The announcement comes amid a legal battle between the course’s owner and operator, TY Management Corp., and the owner of the nearby Honokōhau ditch system. TY Management, Hua Momona Farms, LLC, and several area homeowners’ associations filed in August a lawsuit against Maui Land & Pineapple Co. alleging that the company had failed to maintain the ditch and consequently left surrounding properties facing near-constant water restrictions over the last year.
Nakajima suggested that there is “plenty of water” available that could have been managed properly to not put Kapalua in this situation.
On Sept. 12, Maui County Department of Water Supply announced that there was a “Stage 2” water shortage in effect for West Maui, a service area that includes Lahaina, Kāʻanapali, Kahana, Māhinahina, Nāpili-Honokowai and Honokōhau.
"West Maui is experiencing continued dry weather and lack of rainfall," the county noted at that time. "Therefore, the existing water shortage is being upgraded to a Stage 2 for West Maui until water source levels are adequate to meet demand."
Under such conditions, consumers are advised to cease all nonessential commercial and industrial water uses, and limit irrigation to no more than one day a week. The Stage 2 announcement was an intensification of an existing Stage 1 water shortage, which had been in effect since 2022.
Nakajima said he believes the resort can reopen both courses after the 60-day closures and that the Plantation course will be ready to host Sentry again in 2027.
Meanwhile, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week, Maui Land & Pineapple announced Sept. 10 that a “comprehensive strategic review” is underway and that a subcommittee of the company’s board of directors was created “to identify options for the potential sale or lease of the company’s water source and infrastructure assets."
The company says that review and marketing of some assets for sale began earlier this year.
“For more than a century, MLP has invested tens of millions of dollars to construct and responsibly manage critically important water infrastructure in communities across Maui,” ML&P CEO Race Randle said in that announcement. “With Maui communities in need of additional water sources and experiencing severe drought conditions, we’re hopeful that these assets may increase water security across the island.”
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Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
