The PGA Tour won’t find a temporary home for The Sentry after all.
The Tour announced on Wednesday that it was canceling its season-opener in January, marking the first time an event has been completely canceled since the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour will instead open the 2026 campaign at the Sony Open in Hawaii on Jan. 15.
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The Sentry typically starts the Tour’s calendar season each January from The Plantation Course at Kapalua in Hawaii. The tour announced last month, however, that the event wasn’t going to be held at the course due to an ongoing drought and water restrictions on Maui.
Both of the courses at Kapalua have been closed in recent months, and irrigation was shut off completely at one point, which led to significant course damage and burn off. The course’s ownership group has since filed a lawsuit over the water battle, too. Kapalua announced Wednesday that play at the Plantation course, which is frequently considered one of the best public courses in the country, will begin again on Nov. 10.
While the Tour looked for other options for the event this fall, they have simply chosen not to hold the signature event at all this season.
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The Sentry was first founded in 1986, and it relocated to Hawaii and The Plantation Course in 1999. It’s typically the first of back-to-back Tour stops in Hawaii, with the Sony Open taking place the following week at Waialae Country Club on Oahu. Sentry Insurance has been the tournament’s title sponsor since 2019, and its deal runs through the 2035 season. It’s unclear at this point if the tournament will be able to return to The Plantation Course in 2027. Sony is in its last year of title sponsorship for its Hawaii stop, too.
Chris Kirk won The Sentry last season on Tour after getting to 29-under. Nick Taylor then won the Sony Open in Hawaii.
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