‘Every day the course is dying’: Why this famed PGA Tour course is closing for two months, sparking concerns over hosting event

[Picture: Courtesy of Dave Sansom]
One of the PGA Tour’s most recognisable courses is closing for two months. And it could have a major impact on the first tour event of 2026.

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Kapalua’s Plantation Course, which has hosted the PGA Tour’s opening event since 1999. The Plantation Course has been the site of some memorable PGA Tour moments, including an epic playoff duel between Tiger Woods and Ernie Els in 2000. Cameron Smith won the 2022 edition in record fashion, two years after he had captured the Sony Open on the neighbouring island of Oahu. Before Smith, other Australians had great success at the West Maui course including Stuart Appleby winning three editions of the event in a row during the mid-2000s, before Geoff Ogilvy won back-to-back events in 2009 and 2010.

This year, Kapalua is closing for 60 days starting next week due to a water dispute, according to the Associated Press.

“The golf course has been damaged with no water for months,” Alex Nakajima, the general manager of Kapalua Golf and Tennis, told the Associated Press. “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.”

Both Kapalua Resort’s Plantation and Bay Courses will be closed for two months after not getting water since July 25, according to Nakajima. A lawsuit filed by the resort’s owner, Japanese billionaire Tadashi Kanai, and Kapalua homeowners alleges Maui Land & Pineapple has not maintained the water delivery system. Maui Land & Pineapple claims it has done enough and the problem is due to low flows.

The decision to close the Plantation Course, a Ben Crenshaw-Bill Coore design that ranks No. 23 in Golf Digest US’ 100 Greatest Public Courses list, was made to save what little water Kapalua is receiving for a slow-releasing fertiliser and to make it easier for the greens crew to remove dead grass. Nakajima says this is the only way for the course to have any chance of hosting the Sentry in January.

“We have to do this immediately,” Nakajima said. “Every day the golf course is dying.”

The PGA Tour told the Associated Press it’s monitoring the situation and that it’s been in touch with the involved parties, including the title sponsor of the $US20 million signature event, Sentry. The Sentry is scheduled for January 8-11.