unsuitable for holding the competition<\/a>, scheduled for January 8-11, 2026. The tour cited logistical challenges, including construction of tournament infrastructure, shipping deadlines and vendor support, in its decision to cancel the tournament entirely.<\/p>\nThe $US8.7 million Sony Open in Hawaii, a full-field event slated for January 15-18 at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, becomes the tour\u2019s season opener.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince it first became a possibility that the PGA Tour would not be able to play at the Plantation course 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,\u201d said Tyler Dennis, chief competitions officer at the tour, in a press release. \u201cWhile it is unfortunate to arrive at this decision, we are appreciative of the collaboration and dedication from Sentry.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tour had informed players of the cancellation in the past few days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Sentry is a jewel in the PGA Tour schedule,\u201d said Stephanie Smith, chief marketing and brand officer and chief golf partnership officer at Sentry, which became title sponsor in 2018 and is signed on until 2035. \u201cWe were determined to find a way to play a signature-level event in 2026 \u2013 one that honoured the tournament\u2019s tradition and provided the quality of competition that players and fans have come to expect. Despite the tour\u2019s best efforts, it became impossible to do that. Sentry is committed to our long-term relationship with the tour\u2026 and The Sentry\u2019s place as a prominent event.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sentry eligibility is restricted to the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup standings and 2025 tournament winners. The elimination of The Sentry has prompted the tour to provide a \u201cmake-good\u201d no-cut event to winners who did not finish among the top 50 in 2025. (Top 50 in 2025 are exempt into all 2026 signature events.) Seven players, including two Australians in Min Woo Lee and Karl Vilips \u2013 plus Steven Fisk, Garrick Higgo, Joe Highsmith, William Mouw and Aldrich Potgieter \u2013 currently fall into this category and will be added to the field at the RBC Heritage, a signature event, the week after the Masters. That number could increase depending on the outcome of the final four events of this season.<\/p>\n
The decision not to play at Kapalua followed mounting challenges at the resort, which was forced to shut down for several months due to an ongoing water dispute amid Maui\u2019s severe drought conditions. A conflict spilled into legal action, with resort owner Tadashi Kanai and Kapalua homeowners filing a lawsuit against Maui Land & Pineapple. The plaintiffs allege the company has failed to properly maintain the water delivery system that serves the property. Maui Land & Pineapple disputes these claims, maintaining it has fulfilled its obligations and attributing the water shortages to naturally low flows rather than system failures.<\/p>\n
The Plantation course has been the tour\u2019s calendar opener since 1999, becoming a beloved television spectacle for American fans seeking a tropical escape during winter\u2019s peak. The stunning Pacific Ocean vistas have made it appointment viewing across snow-covered North America. Originally known as the \u201cTournament of Champions\u201d, the exclusive event featured only the previous season\u2019s tournament winners. That changed after the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, when the field expanded to also include all Tour Championship qualifiers \u2013 a modification that became permanent in 2023. The next year brought another transformation: a rebrand to \u201cThe Sentry\u201d and elevation to the tour\u2019s signature series and the expansion of the field to the top 50 FedEx Cup finishers from the previous season.<\/p>\n
![\"2192019997\"\/](\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2025\/1\/hideki-matsuyama-sentry-every-winning-putter-2025.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.644.suffix\/1736132192045.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Japan\u2019s Hideki Matsuyama won The Sentry in 2025. [Photo: Ben Jared]<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
In light of the news, we asked our writers to weigh in on the decision to cancel the event and its potential short and long-term repercussions.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your initial reaction to the cancellation of the event rather than holding it at a new venue or on a new date?<\/p>\n
Bummer. Shame another Hawaiian venue couldn\u2019t be found to facilitate the event. For those staring down the post-holiday winter doldrums, Kapalua in prime time was sneakily one of the best television watches of the season. \u2013 Joel Beall<\/p>\n
It sucks. While I\u2019d normally hate everything about a tournament like this one (small field, no cut), the Sentry at Kapalua is one I\u2019ve always circled on the calendar. Nothing hits quite like that first image of guys going for the 18th green in two with the ocean and the swaying pines in the background, or Mark Rolfing educating us on trade winds. The Sentry is always the perfect cure for the post-Christmas\/New Year\u2019s blues. It\u2019s going to be an oddly empty week. \u2013 Christopher Powers<\/p>\n
Not surprised. Tough trying to turn this around in a few months, though the problem had reared up in June and contingency plans probably should have started then. It\u2019s not the $20 million taken off the table for the PGA Tour players that hurts, but how this impacts West Maui, ongoing recovery in Lahaina from the wildfires and charities such as the Cameron Center. \u2013 Dave Shedloski <\/p>\n
What impact do you think the cancellation will have on the Sony Open?<\/p>\n
Positive. The event always lived in the shadow of its island colleague. Now it serves as the de facto kickoff to the season, getting some much-deserved love from audiences. \u2013 J.B.<\/p>\n
I agree with Joel. Other than maybe not getting a couple of bigger names from Sentry who wanted to stick around in Hawaii for another week, nothing too negative. Probably positive, actually. All eyes normally on Sentry as the year-opener will now be on Waialae. \u2013 C.P.<\/p>\n
From a television viewing standpoint, it could be positive in terms of more viewers hungry for those soothing Hawaiian vistas. But you have to wonder what the field will look like. Some Kapalua contestants usually hung around to play Sony \u2013 though the number had been dwindling. It will still draw a few names; some top 50 guys will go. But I\u2019m guessing not many. For instance, I doubt that TGL members will venture that far. And that could prompt Sony, in its final year as sponsor, to bow out. \u2013 D.S. <\/p>\n
![\"2191755866\"\/](\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2025\/10\/sentry-tee-marker-pga-tour.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.483.suffix\/1761147650600.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Photo: Tracy Wilcox<\/p>\n
Should there be a concern here regarding the future of the Hawaiian swing?<\/p>\n
In the ever-changing golf landscape, there\u2019s concern for just about every event. But I can\u2019t see the tour ever ditching Hawaii. Not only is the weather ideal for starting the season there, but the two venues, Kapalua and Waialae, have become iconic ones on the schedule. \u2013 C.P.<\/p>\n
None. Big changes are coming to the tour. But the league knows what it has in Maui and won\u2019t pull the plug, especially in the wildfire aftermath of a few years ago. \u2013 J.B.<\/p>\n
Some. It won\u2019t be a swing if Sony goes away. But Kapalua, once its water woes are solved, should remain on the schedule. Sentry Insurance is on board until 2035 as title sponsor, and in 2022, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, home to Sentry, shared a proclamation with Maui announcing their relationship as \u201cconnected communities\u201d. Sentry has donated $US3 million to Maui wildfire relief. Something drastic would have to happen for the tour to leave Hawaii. \u2013 D.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Photo: Ben Jared] The Sentry, the season-opening event on the PGA Tour, has officially been cancelled for 2026,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-234089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}