Earlier this year, the PGA Tour had to move the Genesis Invitational from the Riviera Golf Club due to the LA fires that ravaged the city in January. The Tour felt that it was inappropriate to have the tournament in a city that was just struggling to rebuild. At the time of the announcement, it was still struggling with the fires. Now something similar is happening in Hawaii with a drought that struck the islands. These conditions have led to The Sentry being dropped from the 2026 schedule.
Why Was The Sentry Being Moved
Originally, The Sentry was to be held at the Kapalua Plantation Course on the island of Maui. However, drought conditions have put a massive strain on the island’s water conservation efforts. There are images of the beautiful and iconic course wilting in the heat of the drought. Such a dry lawn cannot handle the crowds that a PGA tournament will bring. The field itself won’t be in any better condition for the players, and will need to be closed until the drought breaks. It will not have enough time to recover by the original set date of the tournament, so the next step was finding a new venue. A task that proved harder than expected.
Why Was The Sentry Cancelled
With the original course being out of commission, the Tour set out for a new venue. The Sony Open was still on the schedule for Hawaii, so there were other courses to choose from. However, the Tour experienced some logistical issues with The Sentry. So much so that the decision was made to strike it from the 2026 schedule. The PGA Tour Chief Competitions Officer, Tyler Dennis, put out a statement regarding the decision.
“Since it first became a possibility that the PGA TOUR would not be able to play at The Plantation Course at Kapalua due to the ongoing drought conditions on Maui, we worked closely with our partners at Sentry to assess options for contesting The Sentry in 2026,” Dennis said. “While it is unfortunate to arrive at this decision, we are appreciative of the collaboration and dedication from Sentry Insurance, a tremendous partner of ours.”
The Tour went on to cite logistics as a main issue, along with deadlines, tournament infrastructure, and vendor support. All these factors together made it impossible to find a new course on time that could accommodate such a tournament. Therefore, it’s official, The Sentry will not happen in 2026.
The 2026 Start
Since 1986, The Sentry has served as the starting event for the PGA Tour regular season. The PGA Tour is still working with the state governor on future events on the islands. Although they are disappointed that it had to come to this, all parties are understanding of the situation. However, for 2026, the season opener will be the Sony Open in Honolulu, scheduled for January 12-18. That means the players will have an extra week to prepare for the season opener. Hopefully, The Sentry won’t be struck from the 2027 schedule when the time comes.
Main Photo Credit: © Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
