"PGA Tour should learn from LIV Golf" - Fans react as The Sentry gets axed by the Tour

After being a season opener for the PGA Tour from 1986 to 2013, The Sentry returned to opening duties in 2024. This made many golf fans nostalgic. However, heading into 2026, fans won't be able to see The Sentry kick off the 2026 season as the event won't be played due to ongoing drought conditions among other challenges.

On social media platform X (formerly Twitter), NUCLR Golf wrote a tweet about this update and shared an image of the difference in The Plantation Course from last year to this year. The tweet from NUCLR Golf read:

While some fans in the comment section understood the PGA Tour's decision to cancel The Sentry, there were many who criticized the Tour. One fan wrote that the Tour must learn from LIV Golf:

Let us take a look at more reactions:

"They have known about this for over 2 months. They could have moved it to Southern Cal," a fan wrote. "They don’t like this tournament," wrote another fan. "They’ve known about this for 2 months, still have 3 months to prepare and couldn’t find a replacement?," one fan wrote. "Mean to tell me they couldn’t find one single course anywhere in the country that could host instead?," wrote one fan. "Why would it be so difficult to host a small field, minimalist event at a Private club in Hawaii, Florida or on the West Coast? @PGATOUR Have a Tuesday - Friday event in early January. It’s so easy it hurts," a fan wrote.

The Sony Open Hawaii will be the tournament which will kick off the 2026 season in place of The Sentry. It will be interesting to see what the PGA Tour decides to do with The Sentry in the near future.

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PGA Tour's Chief Competitions Officer called the decision to axe The Sentry unfortunate

After The Sentry returned as an opener for the PGA Tour in 2024, many fans were hopeful that the tradition would once again continue. However, two consecutive seasons later, the streak has broken and now the tournament has lost its place as the 2026 season opener to the Sony Open Hawaii.

While many fans expressed their disappointment over this development as one can read above, the Tour's Chief Competitions Officer Tyler Dennis called the decision 'unfortunate.' He also revealed that options were assessed to host The Sentry in 2026.

A statement from Dennis on PGA Tour.com read:

“Since it first became a possibility that the PGA TOUR would not be able to play at The Plantation Course at Kapalua due to the ongoing drought conditions on Maui, we worked closely with our partners at Sentry to assess options for contesting The Sentry in 2026… While it is unfortunate to arrive at this decision, we are appreciative of the collaboration and dedication from Sentry Insurance, a tremendous partner of ours.”

Apart from Dennis, Hawaii Governor Josh Green, M.D. also commented on the issue. In a statement on PGA Tour.com, Governor Green expressed disappointment over The Sentry not being contested this year. However, he also expressed excitement over the Sony Open Hawaii being played.

Edited by Varun Anand Bhat