When PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan spoke with the media at the Tour Championship on Tuesday, his annual State of the PGA Tour address began with a lengthy update: 2,450 words on how things are going before a single additional question was asked.
Some of those words included thoughts on the 2024 season opener, the Sentry Tournament of Champions, which relocated to Maui in 1999 and will celebrate its 25th anniversary in the Aloha state next year. Given the recent tragedy on the island, in which a wildfire destroyed the historic town of Lahaina and left nearly 1,000 people dead or missing, Monahan remained optimistic that the tournament would continue in its current iteration just over four months from now.
“I just want to take a minute and recognize our team and all the great people that we’ve come to know in Maui and Lahaina,” Monahan said. “Max Novena, our tournament director, he and the team are working every single day with the community there. We’re in constant contact. I’m in contact with the governor. We hope to be a source of inspiration for the great people of Maui and Lahaina by the time that we get to Maui in January.”
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The Sentry Tournament of Champions is played annually at Maui’s Kapalua Plantation Course, which is about 10 miles up the coast from the devastation in Lahaina. Both the Bay and Plantation courses at Kapalua Resort are currently closed, as well as the Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua, which, according to its website, is waiving cancelation fees through Sept. 15.
Despite the area’s current challenges, Monahan said the Tour is eager to return to the Plantation course if they are welcome.
“I think at this point there’s so many unknowns, and we want to be respectful of the challenges,” he said. “We want to help be a part of the revitalization. There are a lot of considerations. We’re committed, you know, if it makes — if we’re allowed to, if we’re invited, if we’re embraced, given all that needs to be accomplished, we will be there 100 percent. But I think at this point right now that’s outside of our hands. Our focus is on what can we do with and through Max, with and through great people, like Mark Rolfing, with and through the governor, to continue to lean into what our players, from Collin to Xander — you know, I think Jon captured it very well last week.
“You know, the PGA Tour, when moments like this happen, this is when we’re at our best,” Monahan continued. “So we don’t have the answer to that right now, but we want to do everything we can to make certain that that’s a moment for the people of Maui that is entirely helpful and inspiring. And I would also add that our partner in Sentry has been there every step of the way and is doing some pretty remarkable things right now alongside our team and we’ll have more to add on that front. But we are hopeful to be there.”
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