The PGA Tour will not be heading to Kapalua in January, after it was announced that The Sentry has been cancelled due to an ongoing drought.

A water conservation dispute on the Hawaiian island of Maui has seen the usually lush fairways of the Plantation Course at Kapalua transformed into rock hard, dry runways.

As a result, the PGA Tour will now not be heading to Maui to play The Sentry for the first time since 1998.

It was actually announced last month that the PGA Tour will not be playing The Sentry this season, although up until recently, the Tour were still looking for alternative venues.

However, the PGA Tour began informing players that The Sentry will be cancelled altogether last week.

Now it has been officially confirmed.

So what will happen to those who qualified for the Sentry, but are not otherwise exempt for other Signature Events throughout the year?

The PGA Tour’s plan for players who qualified for The Sentry but no other Signature Events

Well, obviously those who finished inside the top-50 on the FedEx Cup points list are exempt to play in all of the Signature Events this season.

However, there are other players who qualified to play in The Sentry who aren’t exempt for the other elevated events throughout the year.

The PGA Tour’s official website has confirmed that in their cases, they will be granted entry into an additional Signature Event in 2026: the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in April.

As a result, the field at Harbour Town will be expanded to accommodate the extra players.

Of course, there will now only be eight Signature Events on the PGA Tour in 2026, rather than the planned nine following the cancellation of The Sentry.

Could the PGA Tour not return to Hawaii for The Sentry in 2027 either?

Sadly, the answer to that question is yes.

Due to the ongoing lawsuits which are currently impacting the Plantation Course in Kapalua, there is a chance that the PGA Tour may not return to Maui in 2027 either.

Contingency plans will have to be put in place now, though, to guard against not having a tournament in early-January again.

Perhaps the PGA Tour could move The Sentry over to the west coast of America if the drought problems persist in Hawaii.

Or maybe a new event entirely could be created. Nobody knows what the outcome will be right now but what we do know is that we will not be watching PGA Tour golf at Kapalua in Maui on our TV screens for the first time in over 26 years.