{"id":509035,"date":"2026-01-11T18:04:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T18:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/509035\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T18:04:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T18:04:23","slug":"pga-tour-working-on-downsized-schedule-for-2027-leaving-hawai%ca%bbis-the-sentry-sony-open-in-limbo-maui-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/509035\/","title":{"rendered":"PGA Tour working on downsized schedule for 2027, leaving Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s The Sentry, Sony Open in limbo : Maui Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the past 27 years in early January, veteran broadcast golf analyst Mark Rolfing would stand at the first tee of Maui\u2019s Kapalua Plantation Course and provide insight for TV viewers about the favorites, conditions and results of the prestigious PGA Tour season opener, The Sentry.<\/p>\n

But this year is different. Instead of the scenic view behind Rolfing featuring bleachers and a gallery full of golf fans,<\/a> the camera panned out to the Pacific Ocean. No bleachers. No fans. No tournament of champions. <\/p>\n

Instead of talking about the competition, Rolfing was talking about the cancellation of The Sentry and what the State of Hawai\u02bbi and others are doing to try to bring the tournament back to Maui in 2027 and beyond.<\/p>\n

\"WinnerHideki Matsuyama, the 2025 winner of The Sentry, chips to the 18th green on Jan. 5. 2025, to set up one last birdie at the Kapalua Plantation Course for his 35-under-par total, a new PGA Tour record. Maui Photojournalism Magazine \/ MATTHEW THAYER photo<\/p>\n

HJI Weekly Newsletter<\/p>\n

Get more stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the Hawai\u2018i Journalism Initiative’s weekly newsletter:<\/p>\n

ADDING YOU TO THE LIST…<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future\u00a0is a little bit murky right now,\u201d Rolfing said to The Golf Channel television audience on Friday. <\/p>\n

In September, The Sentry was called off on Maui<\/a> due to brown, unplayable conditions caused by the island\u2019s long drought and water restrictions. In October, The Sentry was outright canceled for the 2026 season<\/a> due to logistical challenges trying to find another venue, including shipping deadlines, tournament infrastructure and vendor support. <\/p>\n

But The Sentry may have bigger problems returning to Maui than brown grass. <\/p>\n

New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp wants a downsized schedule beginning in 2027. And Rolfing said there has been discussion about next year\u2019s PGA Tour season starting around the Super Bowl on Feb. 14 to avoid competing for the viewers with the NFL playoffs. The Sentry has always been played in January.<\/p>\n

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

\u201dWe\u2019ve heard about less (tournaments),\u201d Rolfing told The Golf Channel audience on Friday. \u201cWe\u2019ve heard about a contraction of the PGA\u00a0Tour schedule. I feel pretty comfortable that January is not going to be the future of golf here on Maui, in particular.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Rolfing said he is \u201cvery, very hopeful that there will be golf played here in Hawai\u02bbi and I think it\u2019ll be\u00a0sometime early in the year. I just don\u2019t know when. The Sentry folks are so committed to playing a\u00a0big, big event and we would love to see it still start the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 76-year-old Rolfing, a longtime resident of Kapalua, has been busy strategizing with state officials and other stakeholders about plans to bring The Sentry, one of nine signature events on PGA Tour with a $20 million purse, back to Maui \u2014 and to also keep the Sony Open in Hawai\u02bbi at Waialae Country Club on O\u02bbahu.<\/p>\n

\"ThisA recent shot at the sixth hole at the Kapalua Plantation Course shows the greens recovering from a drought and water restrictions. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n

Without The Sentry, the 2026 PGA Tour season of 38 events, including three FedEx Cup playoff tournaments, is now set to start next week at the Sony Open on O\u02bbahu.<\/p>\n

But the 2027 schedule is expected to look much different, with Rolapp saying \u201cscarcity,\u201d implying fewer tournaments, was a key characteristic of his plan to bolster the PGA Tour when he was introduced to his new job at an Aug. 20 news conference at the Tour Championship in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

While the Saudi-funded LIV Golf league has taken recent champions of The Sentry \u2014 Dustin Johnson (2018), Cameron Smith (2022) and Jon Rahm (2023) \u2014 the upstart league\u2019s television ratings on Fox last year were abysmal compared to the PGA Tour<\/a>. The PGA Tour\u2019s television ratings were up 22% last year, according to Sports Business Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The two top officials for Sentry said Tuesday their contract with the PGA Tour runs through 2035, but they don\u2019t know what the 2027 PGA Tour schedule will look like.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Smith, chief marketing & brand officer and chief golf partnerships officer for Sentry Insurance, said The Sentry will be played in 2027, but she does not know where.<\/p>\n

\"SentrySentry Insurance officials Pete McPartland (back row, far left) and Stephanie Smith (holding check, front row) were part of a news conference on Tuesday to announce $1 million in donations to three Maui charities. HJI \/ ROB COLLIAS photo<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are waiting for the Tour to do its work and make their decisions about\u00a0what\u2019s best for the Tour going forward,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe know we will continue to be part of the Tour schedule. The question in front of\u00a0everybody is where? And we\u2019re waiting for that answer, like everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if Sentry Insurance wants their event to return to Maui, Smith replied, \u201cWho doesn\u2019t? We love Maui. If it were here, we\u2019d be delighted. But we understand the Tour is making changes. And we will be part of the Tour\u2019s\u00a0sponsor group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pete McPartland, Sentry Insurance president, CEO and chairman of the board, said no matter what happens his Wisconsin-based company will always have a tight bond with Maui.<\/p>\n

Sentry Insurance, the Maui tournament\u2019s title sponsor since 2018, held a news conference on Tuesday to announce a $1 million donation to three Maui charities<\/a>: $500,000 to Maui United Way, and $250,000 each to the Pu\u2019u Kukui Watershed and Maui Food Bank.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen marveled that the Sentry Insurance Foundation has now donated more than $5.8 million to charities on the island since 2018 when it took over as title sponsor at Kapalua.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just really grateful to them, they have been great partners, they will continue to be great partners for us in our state, in our county,\u201d Bissen said. \u201cThey have been great to us and we just want to continue to support them.\u201d<\/p>\n

McPartland said: \u201cWhat you saw today is an outpouring of our love for the Island of Maui. And we would love for the tournament, when it comes back, to\u00a0come back here. But there are issues that are more complicated than just a simple\u00a0question what we would want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MaxMax Novena, executive director of The Sentry golf tournament, shows off a sign nicknamed \u201cthe floating Sentry sign\u201d near the 11th green at the Kapalua Plantation Course in December 2024. HJI \/ ROB COLLIAS photo<\/p>\n

Max Novena, the PGA Tour\u2019s executive director of The Sentry, said in an email to Hawai\u2019i Journalism Initiative on Friday: \u201cWe extend a heartfelt mahalo to Sentry Insurance, whose remarkable $1 million donation once again demonstrates their unwavering commitment to the people of Maui.\u201d<\/p>\n

Otherwise, all PGA Tour officials who were asked about the future of The Sentry said the schedule is still up in the air and is in the hands of the Future Competition Committee chaired by Tiger Woods<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The nine-person committee also includes five other PGA Tour players, Joe Gorder, Chairman, PGA Tour Policy & PGA Tour Enterprises Boards and former Executive Chairman & CEO, Valero Energy; John Henry, Principal, Fenway Sports Group and Manager, Strategic Sports Group, PGA Tour Enterprises Board Member; and Theo Epstein, Senior Advisor, Fenway Sports Group, former General Manager, Boston Red Sox and President of Baseball Operations, Chicago Cubs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to figure out what is the best schedule possible so we can create the best fields and have the most viewership and also the most fan involvement and what does that look like?\u201d Woods said at a news conference at the Hero World Challenge in December. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this thing with a shield that\u2019s out there (the NFL) that\u2019s influential.\u00a0And so, yeah, we\u2019re\u00a0looking at different timetables when we start and finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woods added the goal is to \u201ccreate a product that players want to be involved in\u201d and that will be a better product for the fans and all the partners at all the PGA Tour events.<\/p>\n

Ray Stosik, tournament director of the Sony Open in Hawai\u02bbi for 27 years, said he also is waiting for the PGA Tour to make scheduling decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople want to know about the future and\u00a0at this time the PGA Tour has not announced its 2027 schedule,\u201d Stosik said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve been hearing that they may not release the \u201927 schedule until late March or early\u00a0April, so I don\u2019t think that there\u2019ll be any answers coming shortly, but I have no idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sony Open in Hawai\u2019i has had a title sponsorship with the Sony Company for 27 years and has been part of the PGA Tour schedule for more than 60 years. But its current four-year contract with Sony ends at the finish of next week\u2019s tournament. <\/p>\n

That event has raised more than $26 million in charitable contributions during Sony\u2019s sponsorship, Stosik said.<\/p>\n

\"MarkMark Rolfing, a veteran of The Golf Channel and NBC Sports, broadcasts from The Sentry golf tournament in January 2024. HJI \/ ROB COLLIAS photo<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the PGA Tour\u00a0schedule probably got a little bit too big,\u201d Rolfing said. \u201cThere are a few too many tournaments\u201d with more and more players are getting hurt toward the end of\u00a0the year. <\/p>\n

\u201cGuys need an off-season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Rolfing added that cuts to the PGA Tour schedule will not come easily.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are\u00a0going to be some tournaments that I think are going to be hurt because of this \u2014 a few that have\u00a0had their spot early in the schedule forever and ever,\u201d Rolfing said. \u201cWe\u00a0can\u2019t forget about the smaller tournaments, just like the one next week in Honolulu. The Sony, I mean that one\u2019s been around since 1965, my heavens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bissen and Hawai\u2019i Gov. Josh Green have both been involved in the discussions to try to bring The Sentry back to Maui and keep the Sony event at Waialae.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what\u2019s important for people to know is that the PGA (Tour) is re-evaluating its signature events, the annual lineup,\u201d Bissen said Tuesday. \u201cThey have a lot of choices, a lot of places that they can run tournaments. But no place is better than Hawai\u2019i and in Hawai\u2019i no place is better than Kapalua, Maui. We\u2019re going to do our part.\u201d<\/p>\n

James Tokioka, the director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, said the four days of exposure on NBC and The Golf Channel for Maui and the state on back-to-back weeks in early January have been a \u201chuge\u201d benefit for the islands\u2019 economy.<\/p>\n

The Maui Chamber of Commerce has said The Sentry has an estimated $50 million economic impact to Maui. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you watch The Sentry golf tournament and you see the backdrop of the Bay at Kapalua and you see the whales jumping and you\u2019re sitting in the North, or you\u2019re sitting in the Midwest, or you\u2019re sitting in the East Coast and it\u2019s freezing cold and you haven\u2019t been to Hawai\u2019i in a while, you tend to say to yourself, \u2018You know what, it\u2019s time for us to go to Hawai\u2019i,\u2019 \u201d Tokioka said. \u201cYou cannot measure that in dollars, but that\u2019s what The Sentry and the Sony have done for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s investment to the PGA Tour, through the Hawai\u2019i Tourism Authority, was $1.9 million for 2025 \u2014 $600,000 for The Sentry, $650,000 for the Sony Open in Hawai\u2019i and $235,260 for the Mitsubishi Electric Championship on the Champions Tour for players on over 50 years old set to be played at Hual\u0101lai Golf Course on the Big Island on Jan. 22-24.<\/p>\n

For this year without The Sentry event, the Sony Open received $655,636 and the Mitsubishi Electric Championship received $273,182 out of a $1.4 million state allocation. The rest of the money for each year was spent on overall marketing and sponsorship fees.<\/p>\n

Tokioka added there is an allocation of $2 million for the three professional golf tournaments in the Governor\u2019s 2027 proposed budget, although the State Legislature has input on which sporting events receive funding.<\/p>\n

Woods said the new PGA Tour plan that is in the works could be lucrative for all involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is fan based,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to give the fans the best product we possibly can, and if we\u2019re able to give the fans the best product we can, I think we can make the players who have equity in the Tour, we can give them more of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the financial windfall could be fantastic for everyone who\u2019s involved.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the past 27 years in early January, veteran broadcast golf analyst Mark Rolfing would stand at the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":509036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[1430,200581,227711,227712,125437,227713,89001,227714,69001,125439,1456,162625,62,181035,125441,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-509035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-gov-josh-green","10":"tag-hawaii-tourism-authority","11":"tag-james-tokioka","12":"tag-kapalua-plantation-course","13":"tag-mark-rolfing","14":"tag-maui-county","15":"tag-maui-mayor-richard-bissen","16":"tag-nbc-sports","17":"tag-npcrosspost","18":"tag-pga-tour","19":"tag-sony-open","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-the-golf-channel","22":"tag-the-sentry","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115877790757358725","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}