PGA Tour pulls The Sentry from Maui for 2026: drought forces a new opener

The PGA Tour just made a rare off-season call that will ripple through the first week of January. The 2026 edition of The Sentry will not be staged at Kapalua’s Plantation Course on Maui, ending a run that stretched back to 1999 and setting up a scramble for a new venue with TV windows, infrastructure, and early-season weather that can actually cooåperate.

Venue change and fan clarity

Futures boards adjusted to the venue news in minutes, but the top of the market barely budged. Scottie Scheffler remains the shortest price for 2026—trading as low as +350 to +400 at major sportsbooks on PGA futures—signaling that bettors expect form to travel even if the opener shifts sites. For anyone jumping on early lines, PokerStrategy explains no KYC betting sites in concise words, useful when comparing sign-up flow, limits, and verification steps before placing a futures ticket.

The takeaway for fans is simple: confirm where odds are posted, understand account requirements, and then decide whether the price justifies acting before the new venue is confirmed. Meanwhile, the Tour’s move off Kapalua for 2026 is official, citing drought and water conservation mandates that limit championship conditioning.

Why Kapalua is out in 2026

Maui’s prolonged drought and county conservation mandates have pushed the Plantation Course beyond what a signature event can shoulder. Agronomy briefings cite turf stress, restricted irrigation windows, and uneven fairway recovery. Local leaders back prioritizing community water needs over tournament prep, and Tour officials concluded the surfaces and logistics would fall below standard.

An official announcement confirms the move and notes that more than 90 percent of Maui County faces significant drought, with conservation rules that leave championship conditioning out of reach. The decision keeps dates intact for early January 2026, but the site will change.

What a new host must solve

An early-January event demands firm fairways, predictable travel, and a footprint ready for TV towers, hospitality, and volunteer ops. West coast and desert venues surface in speculation because they tick weather boxes and already manage large build-outs. A course that hosts a fall signature event or a marquee pro-am has a head start on operations: credential flows, compound space, fiber routes, and parking plans that don’t require an hour of shuttle time.

Practice-day access matters too. The opener serves as a reunion for winners and top FedExCup finishers; fans expect up-close range viewing, clean sightlines on short-game areas, and green speeds that show off early-season control without flirting with unplayable.

Impact on players, schedules, and points

The shift changes travel math. Instead of Hawaii-to-mainland legs that stretch recovery after the holidays, a stateside start could compress practice blocks or pull some players into earlier competitive reps. Equipment trucks, physio teams, and content crews will redraw routes; sponsors that built activation stories around Maui vistas will swap creative and adjust guest itineraries. None of this alters the ranking arithmetic directly, yet routine shapes performance.

Some players will appreciate the more convenient commutes and calmer winds of the new venue, as they prefer to have a week of quiet tune-ups. Other players, however, will find themselves missing Kapalua’s wide corridors and the feeling of a festival. Regardless of the circumstances, the opening round maintains its identity, which is that of a small field of recent winners and elite finishers, with sufficient space on the tee sheet to allow for broadcast rhythm and storytelling about the feature group.

Hawaii events beyond The Sentry

This decision does not erase January golf in the islands. Organizers indicate that other stops, including the long-running week in Honolulu and the senior-tour event on the Big Island, remain viable under current conditions. Those tournaments operate with different water footprints and course needs, which lets them thread the needle even when Kapalua cannot.

State and county officials have signaled willingness to fine-tune permits and logistical support where feasible, aiming to sustain visitor momentum while respecting drought realities. That balance—protecting resources while keeping sport alive—will likely shape schedules across multiple seasons, not just 2026.

What fans should watch next

Two calendars now matter: agronomy and television. Agronomy determines whether a candidate course can guarantee playable turf under limited watering and still deliver the firm, fast surfaces viewers expect. Television dictates daylight, signal paths, and time-zone fit that keep prime windows intact.

Expect a shortlist featuring venues with recent renovations, proven infrastructure, and weather histories that reduce risk. If confirmation lands soon, ticketing and travel updates should follow quickly, along with details on practice access and pro-am formats.

For updates between official releases, keep an eye on the site’s news section and dip into the latest episodes in the podcast feed, where operators and fitters often share the granular details—turf programs, timing for grow-in, and spectator routing—that end up defining the fan experience at the season’s start.