Why this famed PGA Tour course is closing for two months—and in danger of not being able to host its annual event
Courtesy of Dave Sansom
One of the PGA Tour's most recognizable courses is closing for two months. And it could have a major impact on the first tour event of 2026.
Kapalua's Plantation Course, which has hosted the PGA Tour's opening event since 1999, 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 AP on Tuesday. "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's 100 Greatest Public Courses list, was made to save what little water Kapalua is receiving for a slow-releasing fertilizer 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."
Kapalua's 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.
The PGA Tour told the AP it's monitoring the situation and that it's been in touch with the involved parties, including the title sponsor of the $20 million signature event, Sentry. The Sentry is scheduled for Jan. 8-11.