For the first time in 56 years, the PGA Tour will not stage a tournament in Hawaii in 2027. The Tour confirmed on April 20 that both the season-opening event at Kapalua (currently the Sentry) and the long-running Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club will not be held as PGA Tour events next year — ending a streak that has anchored the Tour’s January calendar since 1971.
The decision is part of a much larger schedule overhaul that new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has previewed since arriving — fewer events, bigger markets, and a season opener that no longer kicks off thousands of miles from the U.S. mainland TV audience.
What The Tour Confirmed
The Tour announced two specific decisions, with two very different futures attached:
- Kapalua / Sentry: The PGA Tour confirmed plans to end the Maui event as a Tour stop after the 2026 edition. Sentry’s title sponsorship — extended through 2035 — is widely expected to follow Sentry to Torrey Pines in San Diego, where the Farmers Insurance Open’s sponsorship has just ended.
- Sony Open in Hawaii: The Tour signaled it is exploring options to keep Sony in Hawaii via the PGA Tour Champions Tour rather than the main circuit. That would dovetail with the existing Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai to create a two-event Champions Tour presence in the state.
Both Kapalua and Waialae have hosted the world’s best players for decades. Removing them from the Tour proper is by far the largest schedule subtraction in the modern era of the PGA Tour.
Why This Is Happening
Rolapp has been explicit about wanting to streamline the schedule. The PGA Tour currently runs more events than virtually any other major sport’s calendar, and the marginal viewership of January events has historically lagged the spring and summer windows. Hawaii, geographically beautiful as it is, is also a difficult TV product: late local-time coverage on the East Coast, holiday programming competition, and a small live-attendance market that can’t substitute for casino-style fan environments elsewhere.
The deeper logic is the same logic driving the rest of the schedule revamp: fewer events, more concentration of star players per tournament, a more “must-watch” feel. Signature events with reduced fields and elevated purses have already moved the calendar in this direction. Removing Hawaii is the structural cost of that shift.
It is also, frankly, a sponsorship efficiency move. Sentry’s executive team has been openly courted by other Tour properties, and Torrey Pines — a U.S. mainland venue with a fan-built reputation and Tiger Woods’ history — is a much easier sell to corporate hospitality buyers than Maui in early January.
What This Means For Players
For top-50 players, the practical effect is mild. Most use Hawaii as a soft January start — competitive enough to shake off the rust, low-pressure enough to test new equipment. They’ll redirect those reps to Torrey Pines or to a slightly delayed start to their season.
For Tour rookies and journeymen, the impact is bigger. The Sony Open in particular has historically been one of the more accessible signature-purse events for players outside the top 30 — a relatively forgiving Waialae layout where solid ball-strikers can win checks. Losing it removes one of the better early-season earning windows for the Tour’s middle class.
What This Means For Fans
For viewers, the effect is bittersweet. Hawaii’s January telecasts have been one of the genuinely escapist viewing experiences in American sports — a counterprogramming staple against NFL playoff Saturday and the depths of winter. Whatever replaces it on the calendar will be a more pragmatic, less atmospheric product.
For golf travelers, however, the Champions Tour pathway for Sony is meaningful. Champions events typically draw smaller crowds than main-Tour events, which makes them easier to attend and walk. If you’ve ever wanted to see Hawaii golf hosted by a professional event, a Champions calendar makes that more feasible than the existing PGA Tour version did.
Either way, the underlying golf in Hawaii hasn’t changed. Our guide to the best golf courses in Hawaii remains a useful starting point — Kapalua’s Plantation Course, Waialae, and Hualalai are still some of the most playable championship-grade golf in the world.
What Amateurs Can Take From The Hawaii Era
Hawaii’s PGA Tour history has quietly been one of the great equipment-and-strategy testing grounds of the past 30 years. Trade winds at Kapalua have forced players to refine the wind-cheating low draw better than anywhere else on Tour. Waialae’s small greens have been a public-facing demonstration of why short iron precision matters more than driver distance.
Three takeaways amateurs can apply, even without a Hawaii event on the schedule:
- Wind play is the most underrated skill in amateur golf. Most weekend players never deliberately practice into a 15-mph wind. Tour pros at Kapalua spent most of January doing exactly that. If you live in a windy region, treat windy days as practice days.
- Approach proximity beats driving distance, almost always. Waialae’s narrow fairways and small greens reward iron play over power. Our deep dive on fixing the slice covers a related point — fairway hits scale your approach options, not the other way around.
- Course management evolves with conditions. Hawaii TV audiences who watched pros lay back to wedge yardages on par-5s rather than reach in two were watching course management. The principle applies on every U.S. muni: take the shot you can repeat, not the one that requires perfection.
For more on improving the parts of your game that translate across courses, see our course management strategy guide and our overview of how to build confidence on the course.
Key Takeaways
- The PGA Tour announced on April 20 that it will not hold a Hawaii event in 2027 — ending a 56-year streak.
- The Sentry at Kapalua is expected to relocate to Torrey Pines as part of Sentry’s existing sponsorship through 2035.
- The Sony Open is being explored as a PGA Tour Champions event, potentially preserving a Hawaii presence at a different level.
- The change is part of CEO Brian Rolapp’s broader push to consolidate the Tour calendar around bigger markets and signature events.
- For amateurs, the Hawaii era’s lessons in wind play, approach precision, and course management remain transferable to any course.
