The PGA Tour will not hold its traditional Hawaii events on the 2027 schedule, ending a 56-year run of PGA Tour stops in the state. The PGA Tour has officially confirmed that neither The Sentry nor the Sony Open will appear on its 2027 schedule.
The decision ends one of professional golf’s most beloved seasonal traditions and signals that a full calendar overhaul is underway. This is not just a scheduling tweak. It is a statement about where the sport is heading. The decision comes as new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp and the Future Competition Committee review major schedule changes.
A 56-year tradition comes to an end
The Sony Open in Hawaii traces its roots back to 1965, when it was first called the Hawaiian Open. It ran continuously at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu since 1971 and grew into one of the most recognizable events on the calendar. For decades, it meant professional golf started the year in the sun.
The Sentry has been held at Kapalua’s Plantation Course since 1999 and traditionally opened the PGA Tour season, with a field built around recent winners and top FedExCup performers. Together, the two events formed what fans called the “Hawaii Swing,” two weeks of January golf set against ocean views and trade winds. That chapter is now officially closed.
The water crisis that triggered the collapse
The Sentry was canceled at the start of 2026 after the Plantation Course at Kapalua was left with dying grass. A bitter local dispute over water delivery had starved the course of irrigation. Accusations flew between the course owner, local homeowners, and the water management company, leading to a legal standoff that ruined the turf entirely.
With The Sentry gone, the Sony Open stepped in as the lone season opener in 2026. It was also Sony Corp.’s final year as title sponsor. Without two events to anchor a two-week trip, the business case for staying in Hawaii grew very thin very fast. The water crisis accelerated uncertainty around Hawaii’s place on the schedule.
Little-known fact: Hideki Matsuyama holds the PGA Tour scoring record relative to par, set at The Sentry in 2025 with a jaw-dropping 35-under finish at Kapalua.
Brian Rolapp’s NFL playbook for golf
Brian Rolapp came to the PGA Tour from the NFL, where he worked as one of Commissioner Roger Goodell’s closest lieutenants. He arrived with a clear philosophy built on three ideas: scarcity, simplicity, and parity. Rolapp has publicly left open the possibility of a later season start, and player Harris English has also discussed the logic of avoiding direct competition with football.
His thinking is straightforward. Fewer events mean each tournament feels more important. Top players appearing together more often make every tee sheet appointment viewing. January golf competing against the NFL playoffs was never a winning formula. Rolapp is done pretending otherwise and is rebuilding the schedule around that reality.
What the 2027 schedule actually looks like
The American Express in California’s Coachella Valley will replace Hawaii as the season’s first stop. The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, WM Phoenix Open, and Genesis Invitational round out the first block of events. It is a slate built around big crowds, major markets, and television-friendly time zones.
The future of Torrey Pines in San Diego remains unsettled. Farmers Insurance ended its long-running sponsorship deal in 2026, leaving a slot open. Sentry Insurance, which holds a tour partnership through 2035, is widely expected to attach its name to Torrey Pines and bring the Sentry concept to Southern California under a new identity.
Little-known fact: Ernie Els is the only player to ever sweep the Hawaii events in a single season, winning both The Sentry at Kapalua and the Sony Open at Waialae back in 2003. No one has matched it since.
The $150 million blow to Hawaii’s economy
The two events together represented more than $150 million in annual visitor industry revenue for the islands. The Sony Open alone generated an estimated $100 million per year in direct economic activity, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. The Sentry added another $50 million in economic impact to Maui.
Beyond the raw numbers, these events mattered during January, which is traditionally a slow month for tourism. In 2026, more than 16,000 out-of-state visitors traveled to Honolulu specifically for the Sony Open. State legislators have pledged to fight for a return but acknowledged the challenges are significant, and the outcome is far from certain.
How players are reacting to the changes
Many players openly enjoyed the Hawaii swing, not just for the scenery but for the rhythm it gave to the early season. Professional golfer Parker McLachlin captured the sentiment well when he described how fans at home in winter weather would watch Maui and feel transported to warmth and beauty. That emotional connection between viewers and Hawaii was part of its value.
Pro Harris English publicly backed the idea of starting the season after the Super Bowl, noting that golf simply cannot compete with football for viewers. Not every player agrees. Lower-ranked players who used Hawaii’s early events to build FedEx Cup points quickly are quietly losing a valuable runway at the start of each season.
The broader restructuring behind this decision
Rolapp outlined six themes for future PGA Tour competition ahead of The Players Championship in March 2026, while noting that final decisions were still pending.
A top-tier schedule of 21 to 26 events would feature the game’s elite. A separate ladder of developmental events would serve players trying to earn their way up. It is modeled closely on promotion and relegation systems seen in soccer.
The overall number of tour events is expected to shrink from 37 in 2026 down to somewhere between 20 and 22 in 2027. That compression means many long-standing events face elimination. Hawaii was among the first casualties. More cuts are expected before Rolapp considers the rebuild complete
Can Hawaii ever return to the PGA Tour?
State Senator Lynn DeCoite told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser she views the departure as temporary and plans to work toward bringing events back. Hawaiian lawmakers are also exploring interest from Asia’s professional golf tours, which include six active circuits that could potentially route a stop through the islands. The political will to fight for a return is real.
The harder problem is structural. Rolapp has indicated that if the PGA Tour were ever to return to Hawaii, it would not be in January. A later slot in the season creates new scheduling conflicts and reduces the warm-weather appeal that made the events so popular. The water issues at Kapalua also remain legally unresolved. Until those problems are fixed, the Plantation Course has no viable path back to hosting elite professional golf.
TL;DR
- The PGA Tour has removed both The Sentry and the Sony Open from its 2027 schedule, ending 56 years of Hawaii events.
- A drought-driven water crisis at Kapalua in 2026 forced The Sentry’s cancellation and accelerated the decision.
- CEO Brian Rolapp is rebuilding the tour around fewer, bigger events that avoid competing with the NFL.
- Hawaii stands to lose more than $150 million in annual tourism revenue tied to the two events.
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This article was made with AI assistance and human editing.
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