{"id":3793,"date":"2026-05-25T22:47:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T22:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/3793\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T22:47:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T22:47:30","slug":"after-50-years-of-promoting-golf-on-maui-tv-analyst-mark-rolfings-next-big-shot-is-trying-to-save-the-sentry-maui-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/3793\/","title":{"rendered":"After 50 years of promoting golf on Maui, TV analyst Mark Rolfing\u2019s next big shot is trying to save The Sentry : Maui Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\"MarkMark Rolfing interviewed Tiger Woods at the 2000 Presidents Cup at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Va. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n

In 1985, Mark Rolfing hit the shot of his life while playing in the Isuzu Kapalua International<\/a>, an unofficial, made-for-TV golf event shown on ESPN that he created as the director of marketing for the West Maui course.<\/p>\n

Rolfing\u2019s tee shot on the par-3 17th hole of the Kapalua Bay Course was closest to the pin. He won a cherry red Isuzu Impulse \u2014 and so much more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt literally became the shot of my life because after I hit it\u00a0they brought me up to the announcers booth with Lee Trevino and Vin Scully,\u201d Rolfing said. \u201cThere was a ruling going on the course or something that extended my interview.\u201d<\/p>\n

That interview led the Maui resident to a remarkable 40-year-and-counting career as a golf analyst on national TV. It also has been part of his half century of advocacy for golf and other sports on the island that he and his wife Debi adopted as their home in 1975.<\/p>\n

\"NBCNBC and Golf Channel analyst Mark Rolfing (middle) has been a part of all 27 versions of The Sentry golf tournament at the Kapalua Plantation Course since the event began there inm 1999. HJI \/ ROB COLLIAS photo<\/p>\n

Now, Rolfing, at age 76, is taking one more big shot. He is trying to help save The Sentry tournament, the crown jewel of his sports legacy on Maui. <\/p>\n

Rolfing was instrumental in the PGA Tour event coming to Maui and becoming a fixture at the Kapalua Plantation Course for the past 27 years, as the prestigious first event on the PGA Tour calendar.<\/p>\n

But due to water and drought issues this year in West Maui, the Kapalua Plantation Course became unplayable at the elite level leading to the PGA Tour announcing on Sept. 16 that The Sentry would not be played there as scheduled in Janauary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last week, the PGA Tour announced The Sentry will not be played anywhere in 2026<\/a>. And, the PGA Tour and title sponsor Sentry Insurance have been noncommittal about any future plans of the popular tournament.<\/p>\n

Within the last week, Rolfing said he has dedicated himself to bringing back The Sentry to the Kapalua Plantation Course<\/a>. He and Debi have rescued the event before, in 2011, when there was no title sponsor. The Mark and Debi Rolfing Charitable Foundation stepped in to run the tournament.<\/p>\n

\"MarkMark Rolfing (right) is shown here in the studio at The Golf Channel in this recent photo. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve now recommitted myself to doing whatever I can to try and\u00a0make sure The Sentry is on the schedule for Maui in 2027,\u201d he said during an interview on Tuesday.\u00a0\u201cBecause when I look around I don\u2019t see who else is going to be in charge of this\u00a0process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rolfing said there are two key steps to start the effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One is solving the litigation<\/a> that is going on between Plantation Course owner TY Management and Maui Land & Pineapple over the water issues. <\/p>\n

The second is gaining the support of PGA Tour players who want to play here. Legendary golfer Tiger Woods chairs a new nine-member committee,\u00a0the Future Competition Committee, that was formed by the PGA Tour to re-evaluate and modernize its competitive model. There are six PGA Tour players on the committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho is going to stay on the governor about trying to solve this water problem?\u00a0Or who\u2019s going to talk to Tiger Woods or (PGA Tour CEO) Brian Rolapp<\/a>?\u00a0I don\u2019t know,\u201d Rolfing said. \u201cI\u2019ve got a renewed sense of energy here to at least give it a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

If anyone has enough clout on Maui to do so, it\u2019s Rolfing. He has been a mover and shaker for sports on the island since he and Debi became residents in 1975. He was hired as a golf pro at Kapalua Bay Course in 1976, and moved up to director of marketing, starting the Kapalua Invitational, an unofficial golf tournament that lured pros in the PGA Tour\u2019s offseason.<\/p>\n

Sherel Stosik, who was president of Rolfing Productions which began in 1982 for television production of the golf tournament, said Rolfing made the pitch to ESPN that the tournament could show off Maui when it was winter on the Mainland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey called it the \u2018silly season\u2019,\u201d Stosik said of the unofficial golf tournaments. \u201cBut Mark said the\u00a0good thing is with the time difference, you can put it in prime time and you\u2019ll see sunshine and\u00a0surfers and beauty and whales, all that good stuff. Mark had a vision and it worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe NBC golf team in 1989 Bob Goalby, Lee Trevino, Vin Scully, Jay Randolph and Mark Rolfing are shown here in this 1989 photo. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n

ESPN said yes to broadcasting the Maui tournament for the first time in 1985, the year Rolfing hit the closest to the pin shot.<\/p>\n

Don Ohlmeyer<\/a>, a former executive for NBC, ABC, ESPN and The Golf Channel who died in 2017, was producing the Kapalua telecast that Sunday. He approached Rolfing after the interview with the legendary announcer Scully and golf great Trevino and said: \u201cHow would you like to try out as an on course commentator next\u00a0week?\u201d<\/p>\n

Less than two weeks later, Rolfing made his television debut at the World Cup of Golf in La Quinta, Calif. He did so well Ohlmeyer signed him to 20 events in 1986.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s how it started,\u201d Rolfing said. \u201cOne shot. I hit one shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The added notoriety helped Rolfing continue his golfing legend grow on Maui.<\/p>\n

From 1986 to 1991, Rolfing was co-developer of the Kapalua Plantation Course with Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, a two-time Masters champion. That championship course sprung from pineapple fields and opened in 1991.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 1999, the Kapalua Plantation Course became the home every January of the PGA Tour\u2019s Tournament of Champions. That event, now known as The Sentry, came to Maui largely due to Rolfing\u2019s work and the success of the International, which he ran through 1997.<\/p>\n

\"MarkMark Rolfing interviewed Lee Trevino at The Players championship in 2025. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n

Throughout the past 40 years, Rolfing has worked as a golf analyst for several national television networks, including ESPN from 1986 to 1988; NBC from 1988 to 1991; ABC and ESPN from 1991 to 1997; and with NBC and The Golf Channel steadily since 1998. Rolfing, who currently is the longest tenured golf analyst on any network, expects to sign another contract to continue with The Golf Channel in 2026. <\/p>\n

Along the way, Rolfing has interviewed the best golfers in the world, including Woods, Byron Nelson and Jack Nicklaus, big time golfing celebrities like NBA legend Michael Jordan and U.S. golfing presidents Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.<\/p>\n

But it was his friendship with golfing legend Arnold Palmer that cemented Rolfing\u2019s start and staying power in the golf universe. He met Palmer while designing the Kapalua Village Course. At the time, Palmer walked into the golf cart barn and asked who was the best player in the room. Rolfing raised his hand and said: \u201cI am.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MarkMark Rolfing (right) becamse close friends with Arnie Palmer, as shown in this 1985 photo. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n

\u201cArnie says, \u2018are you sure?\u2019 And I said, \u2018yep.\u2019,\u201d Rolfing recalled. \u201cAnd he said, \u2018Okay, you\u2019re my partner this\u00a0afternoon.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

That was the start of a longtime relationship that was a large part of the success of the International tournament because Rolfing got Palmer to play in the event several times, raising the profile of the tournament and drawing Arnie\u2019s Army of fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was his partner every day for the\u00a0rest of our lives,\u201d Rolfing said of Palmer. \u201cWhenever he came out to Kapalua, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2016, Global Golf Post lauded Rolfing as \u201ca man of grace and good will whose voice has become part of the game\u2019s soundtrack.\u201d Earlier in his career, USA Today named Rolfing \u201cGolf\u2019s best on-course commentator.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PGA of America honored the Rolfings with its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award in 2017, recognizing those who advance humanitarian interests through the game.<\/p>\n

Rolfing said his most memorable interview was with Palmer in 1994 at his last U.S. Open, which was at Oakmont in his native western Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

\"MarkMark and Debi Rolfing were close friends with Arnold Palmer, who died in 2016. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just an unbelievable interview, because he basically was speechless and couldn\u2019t talk,\u201d Rolfing said. \u201cWe were scrambling to get off the air. It was a Friday afternoon, and\u00a0there was just a whole lot going on \u2026 O.J. Simpson was in the Bronco driving around L.A. \u2026 that interview with Arnold Palmer was the one that I always remember<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1984, before becoming a golf analyst, Rolfing started Rolfing Sports, a company that helped launch the Maui Classic college basketball tournament and the Ka\u02bbanapali Classic, a PGA Tour senior golf tournament that played at Ka\u02bbanapali from 1987 to 2000.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Maui Classic was a four-team event held at War Memorial Gym in Wailuku in 1984 and 1985. The tournament moved to the Lahaina Civic Center in 1986 when it became an eight-team event and host Chaminade University of Honolulu took over the operation of the tournament, renaming it the Maui Invitational<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ray Stosik, a former professional basketball player in Europe and Sherel Stosik\u2019s husband, helped Rolfing with the Maui Classic and the two golf tournaments in the 1980s. <\/p>\n

\u201cI first met Mark\u00a0when he was working in the cart barn in Kapalua, and I mean, he\u2019s had quite a ride,\u201d said Ray Stosik, who has been the executive director of the Sony Open in Hawai\u2019i<\/a>, the first full-field PGA Tour tournament of the calendar year, for the past 28 years. \u201cHe\u2019s been my mentor.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"FromFrom left, Bill Coore, Debi Rolfing, Mark Rolfing, and Ben Crenshaw review plans for the Kapalua Plantation Course in this 1987 photo. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n

Marty Keiter, the first golf pro at the Kapalua Plantation Course, remembers that Rolfing\u2019s contribution was key to the whole development of the 7,596-yard, par-73 layout.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding that Plantation Course was just an unbelievable\u00a0experience, one that I\u2019ll always cherish,\u201d Keiter said. \u201cAnd Mark was the driving force behind all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1996, Rolfing launched Golf Hawai\u02bbi weekly television show, which ran for 3 seasons on ESPN and 12 on The Golf Channel with guests including Palmer, Nicklaus, Trevino, Woods, Crenshaw, Davis Love III, Fred Couples, Greg Norman and Jordan.<\/p>\n

\"MarkMark and Debi Rolfing are shown here with Michael Jordan at the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles Golf Course. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n

There are numerous people Rolfing has helped start careers in professional golf, including Kelly Fliear, the tournament manager for the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hual\u0101lai on Hawai\u2019i Island for the past 28 years. <\/p>\n

Dick McClean was the tournament manager for the Kapalua International golf event and also a close friend of Rolfing\u2019s who was instrumental in the development of all the events for Rolfing Sports.<\/p>\n

Nancy Cross, Rolfing\u2019s longtime assistant before becoming tournament director for The Sentry from 2000 to 2010, said the team at Kapalua from the 1980s and 1990s will never forget what Rolfing did for them.<\/p>\n

\"Maui'sMaui\u2019s Mark Rolfing interviews Byron Nelson as Phil Mickelson watches in this 1994 photo. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n

\u201cHe really made sure to give us a start\u00a0with our careers. He was golf in Hawai\u2019i,\u201d Cross said. \u201cSo we, all of us, really appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Rolfing\u2019s mortality came into sharp focus when he visited his skin doctor in Wailea in August 2015. Dr. George Martin noticed a \u201csmall bump \u2026 the size of a pin needle\u201d on Rolfing\u2019s cheek and said it needed to be checked out.<\/p>\n

After two more doctors examined the bump, one in Wailuku and one in Chicago, a biopsy was taken and Rolfing got a call from his doctor in Chicago, telling him he had stage 4 cancer of the salivary gland and his chances for survival \u201cwere not very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of going to work at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straights in Wisconsin, he had a 9-hour surgery to remove the tumor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were giving me like a 5% chance to make a year,\u201d Rolfing said. \u201cAnd you know what? They were wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five weeks of radiation treatments at MD Anderson Cancer Center<\/a> in Houston followed during November and December. He had a total of 31 radiation treatments where he had to stay motionless for two hours in a Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rolfing\u2019s first assignment back behind the microphone after his recovery was the 2016 tournament at his beloved Kapalua Plantation Course.<\/p>\n

\"ThisThis photo of Mark Rolfing (right) and Johnny Miller are shown broadcasting from Wailea for the Women\u2019s Kemper Open in the late 1980s. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s the best one,\u201d he said of the 27 Kapalua PGA Tour events he has done. <\/p>\n

Now, he shares his cancer story with anyone who needs or wants to hear it. He is a natural storyteller.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s surreal,\u201d said Rolfing, who also has homes in Montana and Chicago with Debi. \u201cThat\u2019s one word that comes to mind always. And it just was a career that was so unlikely to happen. All the planets lined up and I was just in the right place at the right time\u00a0on a number of different occasions and was able to take advantage of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sherel Stosik said: \u201cSo 2026 makes 50 years of Mark\u00a0and his \u2026 investment and blessing to Kapalua, to Maui. That\u2019s a long\u00a0time.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Keiter looks at the legacy of what he was part of with Rolfing and is concerned that The Sentry may never come back to Maui.<\/p>\n

\"AA group of Kapalua colleagues appear in this 1990s photo. From left, Doug Stacy, Dick McClean, Crisanne Zufelt, Paul Mancini, Debi Rolfing, Mark Rolfing and Marty Keiter are shown at the Rolfing\u2019s ranch in Montana. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just so sad to see what\u2019s happening now,\u00a0but Kapalua was just in the middle of the golf world in the Pacific,\u201d Keiter said. \u201cEveryone came there then. \u2026 Mark was there\u00a0first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keiter, now 75, believes Rolfing is the man to bring The Sentry back, if it is possible. The two old friends talk several times a week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely think he\u2019s the right guy\u00a0because he knows all the people involved, the PGA Tour,\u00a0Maui Land & Pineapple, TY Management, everybody,\u201d Keiter said. \u201cHe has a relationship with the governor and the mayor. \u2026 I hope he can save it for the state,\u00a0for Maui, for all the charities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark Rolfing interviewed Tiger Woods at the 2000 Presidents Cup at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2677,2678,1765,2679,2680,2681,2682,2683,2684,2685,1706,144,2686,2687,2688,1580,1330],"class_list":["post-3793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-sentry","tag-dick-mcclean","tag-hualalai","tag-kapalua","tag-kelly-fliear","tag-mark-and-debi-rolfing-charitable-fiundation","tag-marty-keiter","tag-maui","tag-md-anderson-cancer-center","tag-mitsubishi-electric-championship","tag-nancy-cross","tag-npcrosspost","tag-pga-tour","tag-plantation-course-at-kapalua","tag-ray-stosik","tag-sherel-stosik","tag-sony-open","tag-the-sentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}