Despite closing during the August wildfires around Lahaina, Hawaii, Kapalua Plantation has reopened and will again serve as host to the PGA Tour's Sentry, Jan. 4-7, to open the 2024 schedule.PGA Tour players with Hawaiian ties stepped in immediately. Collin Morikawa, whose paternal grandparents were born and raised in Maui, donated $1,000 for every birdie he made during the 2023 FedEx Cup Playoffs to Maui United Way and World Central Kitchen. FedEx is among the corporations and individuals who have pledged to match Morikawa’s total donation. Xander Schauffele announced that his foundation, the Xander Schauffele Family Foundation, along with Hawaiian Host Group, would match donation dollars up to a total of $400,000.Sentry made a $250,000 donation for immediate support efforts, which the PGA Tour matched. The
Troon Cares Associate Relief Fund remains a source to aid all Troon associates facing significant financial hardship, including from the Maui fires and those affected by other catastrophic events or hardships.
Hawaii-based Tour partners Sony, Mitsubishi Electric and Hawaii Tourism Authority have added “significant support,” according to a PGA Tour spokesperson.
“There’s still the biggest part — the uncertainty and no quick solution,” says Castillo, the head professional since 2019. “Thousands of residents still have to pay their mortgage for homes they may have lost, pay for a rental, all with no job. From a spiritual standpoint, many people have to figure out if they want to move back to a place where this tragedy took place. We are experiencing baby steps of trying to get what happened as far behind us as we can.”
That puts the golf tournament even more in the spotlight and live coverage on Golf Channel and NBC will give the Maui recovery push maximum exposure.
NBC broadcaster Mark Rolfing, a longtime Maui resident, told Golf Channel that the tournament “will be something like you’ve never seen before. It creates the single biggest platform we have going forward.”
“We recognize the moment and responsibilities we have,” Novena says. “We have thought a lot about the look of the tournament and want to make sure we honor Maui and Lahaina and the first responders. It’s a new beginning for many, both in golf and here in Maui
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