Every year since 1999, Kapalua Resort has hosted the kickoff event of the PGA Tour, The Sentry. However, Kapalua has sparked concerns ahead of the 2026 season starter. Due to an ongoing water dispute and abnormally dry conditions, the course will close September 2nd, for restoration.
Water Issues
Course owner, Tadashi Yanai, Kapalua homeowners, and Hua Momona Farms all recently joined together. They filed a lawsuit against Maui Land & Pineapple (MLP). Included in the lawsuit is the claim,
“MLP knowingly allowed the ditch system to fall into a state of demonstrable disrepair. That disrepair, not any act of God, or force of nature, or other thing, is why users who need it are currently without water.”
This has allegedly resulted in a loss of adequate water to the course, something that goes against the initial agreement when the course was originally purchased. This agreement seemed to say that MLP “will at all times exercise commercially reasonable efforts to manage, repair and maintain” the system reliably for irrigation water delivery.
While the area is experiencing less water that usual, the lawsuit claims that these issues are not related. Instead, the lawsuit states,
“Water is scarce not because rain is falling in significantly smaller quantities. Rather, water is scarce because MLP has failed to honor its promises to maintain the infrastructure used to collect, carry, and store it properly.”
This comes after the course has reportedly not had enough water since July 25th, 2025. In an announcement made on Tuesday, August 26th, general manager Alex Nakajima, said,
“The golf course has been damaged with no water for months. I proposed to the owner that we need to shut the golf course to increase our chances to save the golf course and the tournament.”
“This decision was not made lightly. Closing at this time will allow us to begin careful recovery and restoration so that the courses may once again meet the standards of playability our guests deserve.”
Located in West Maui, Kapalua is on the dry side of the island. Recently, that area has faced environmental disasters and been wracked by drought. High winds and other issues in 2023 resulted in a devastating fire. It left more than 100 people dead and destroyed the city of Lahaina, only nine miles down the coast.
Course Closure
Beginning September 2nd, 2025, Kapalua Golf and Tennis Resort plans to close for 2 months. This closure will allow staff to work on restoration, including removing dead grass. Kapalua will use the small amounts of water it does receive to support a slow-releasing fertilizer.
These efforts, combined with no customers on the grass, will hopefully allow the course to reopen in the scheduled time frame. Ideally, it will be ready as planned for The Sentry in January of 2026.
Reportedly, the PGA Tour has been in touch with the title sponsor, Sentry Insurance, and is monitoring “the ongoing water conservation requirements affecting Kapalua Resort.”
Currently, The Sentry is still scheduled to begin at Kapalua Golf Resort, January 8th through the 11th, 2025. Fans can tune in to watch the first event of the 2026 PGA Tour.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Kapalua Announces Course Closure – Sparks Concern Ahead of The Sentry appeared first on Heavy Sports.