The PGA Tour just canceled its opening event. Is there more to this story?
The PGA Tour announced Wednesday it is canceling its 2026 season-opening Sentry Tournament.
Strangely, this is not only Kapalua-related announcements Wednesday. Plantation Course — the pride of Maui and the longtime host of the Tour calendar season opener — added a banner to its website advertising tee times are now being booked after a two-month closure.
So what exactly happened?
This is a story about drought, natural conditions and Hawaiian politics. But it also became a story about the future of the PGA Tour, about its vision, strategy and relationships with markets and sponsors. Let’s discuss some of the complex factors together in a question-and-answer format.
Wait – why didn’t they set up sentries at Kapalua like they usually do?
The simplest answer is that Maui’s water restrictions — caused by a combination of drought, infrastructure, streams, ditches, lawsuits, finger-pointing and more — raise questions about the course’s readiness to host top-tier golf courses in January. After careful consideration by tournament officials and PGA Tour representatives, the final decision was made that last month’s Sentinel Tournament would not be held as scheduled.
The decision, released earlier, cited condition issues and explained that they terminated early because of the “logistical complexities unique to hosting the tournament on Maui.”
“These include shipping deadlines, supplier coordination and event infrastructure development – all of which are exacerbated by the island’s remote location,” the PGA Tour wrote.
So how bad is this course?
Honestly? If you’ve seen posts on social media about fairway outages, it’s probably not as bad as you think. Kapalua has two courses, Plantation and Bay, and the resort has doubled down on efforts to revitalize Plantation — and some of the more viral images, like the one below, are from the sepia-toned Bay.
As for plantation courses? They have a live view of the first tee that you can check out here , and below is a screenshot from Wednesday afternoon ET.
Kapalua
This doesn’t prove anything. For example, we can’t get a close look at the grass growing on the greens. But there are still more than two months until the competition starts. If everyone involved was committed to the Sentinel idea must Held in Kapalua this year, it looks like they could have done just that. One way to think about this is that Toole dislikes uncertainty. Complicated local politics combined with uncertainty about course conditions and everything needed to transport equipment, vending and personnel to Maui led to the project’s demise.
Wait, then why not put it somewhere else?
Good question! There were rumors that the Sentinels were to be imprisoned elsewhere. Torrey Pines, a backup host at last year’s Genesis, is also a possibility, as are other options from Palm Springs to Florida. Ultimately, superintendents decided the logistical challenges of putting together a last-minute alternative venue weren’t worth it. That’s not a particularly satisfying answer, but another way to think about it is: The Tour and this tournament are both in reset mode. It’s not worth going out of your way to make Sentinel happen in a less than satisfying way.
Sentry’s Stephanie Smith also commented in the press release:
“Sentry is a gem in the PGA Tour calendar,” said Smith, Sentry’s chief marketing and brand officer and chief golf partnerships officer. “We were determined to find a way to deliver an iconic event in 2026 – one that respected the Tour’s tradition and delivered the quality of play that players and fans have come to expect. Despite the Tour’s best efforts, this was not possible. The Sentinel is committed to maintaining our long-term relationship with the Tour – which will last until 2035 – and the Sentinel’s status as a premier event. While the outcome in 2026 will not be what we had hoped for, we are optimistic about the future.”
Are there any other complicating factors?
have! Among them is the fact that the Sentinel Tournament is no longer the only early January event on the golf calendar. The DP World Tour Dubai Invitational 2026 is scheduled to take place the week after the Sentinel Tournament (January 15-18) and has already secured commitments from Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood; they are also among Europe’s top players expected to compete in next week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic (January 22-25).
There’s also the TGL, which kicks off on Sunday, Dec. 28 in Florida and then has games every Monday or Tuesday in January — raising eyebrows when the schedule was released because it would be difficult to combine Tuesday’s TGL games with Thursday’s tournament kickoff in Hawaii.
So…where does the PGA Tour season begin?
Technically, the first PGA Tour event of the season will be the Sony Open in Hawaii, with the first round taking place on January 15th. quite Just as a full-scale PGA Tour event is about to begin; the top pros who usually hop from Sentinel Island to Sony may not make the trip at all.
It will be interesting to see if we get a beefed-up field when the tour returns to the mainland on the American Express in Palm Springs from January 22-25. Next is the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines (January 29-February 1) and the WM Phoenix Open (February 5-8), and finally the first signature event, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (February 12-15). From there, things will pick up speed (eight signature events plus The Players and all four majors over the next 23 weeks). But there’s no denying the slow start as Project Sentinel didn’t go as planned.
Does this mean the end of golf on the Hawaii PGA Tour?
The answer is very definite perhaps. No final decisions have been made regarding the future of either the Sentinel or Sony, but the PGA Tour appears to be evaluating all options and has made clear the challenges inherent in hosting professional events in Hawaii.
For one thing, Hawaii has a long tradition of early-season golf tournaments. Cold-weather golf fans are increasingly heading to Kapalua’s epic Hawaiian slopes to watch the tournament during prime time during the first week of the year. Players who travel long distances love to start their seasons there and bring their families with them. Sentry recently extended its partnership with the Tour and Launch Events until 2035.
On the other hand, hosting major golf tournaments on remote island chains is expensive. This is a logistical challenge from an event operations and television production perspective. And Hawaii has no mainland population centers, making revenue generation more difficult. Reading between the lines of the Tour’s statement, it sounds committed to its relationship with Sentry (“our great partner”) but avoids mentioning the future of the Kapalua Championship. Add in Sony’s contract expiring in 2026, and the Tour’s new leadership, and it’s easy to imagine a world where the season starts somewhere else – and somewhere easier to get to.
What does this mean for the future of the PGA Tour?
Nothing yet. But it’s a reminder that change is coming. Everything is under evaluation. The Future Competition Committee, chaired by Tiger Woods, is tasked with creating the Tour’s “optimal competitive model.” As the PGA Tour’s new CEO, Brian Rolapp, said in August:
“The goal is not incremental change. The goal is significant change.”
The committee also includes tour pros Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Maverick McNeely and Keith Mitchell, as well as former Valero CEO Joe Gold, Fenway Sports Group’s John Henry and baseball executive-turned-sports visionary Theo Epstein. As time goes on, they will have more to say.
What we know for sure at the moment is that the first Tour event of 2026 has been cancelled. We can only guess what changes will come next.
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