In January 2027, Hawaii will go without a regular PGA Tour event for the first time in 56 years. Pro golf will still be played here that month. It will come from the PGA Tour Champions, the tour for players 50 and older that has been coming to Hualalai every January for three decades.
The Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai is set for January 21 to 23, 2027. It used to sit in the shadow of the bigger events on Maui and Oahu. Now it is one of two pro tournaments left in the state. If you live within the resort gates, your home course is one of only two places in Hawaii hosting pro golf this January.
Fifty-Six Years, Then a Gap
The change came in two steps. The Sentry had been played at The Plantation Course at Kapalua every year since 1999. It last ran there in 2025, then was canceled for 2026 because of drought and logistical problems on Maui. The Sony Open in Hawaii had been played at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu since its first event in 1971. On April 20, 2026, the PGA Tour said neither event would be on its 2027 schedule.
The Hualalai event was not part of that decision. Connor Stange, a PGA Tour communications manager, told Big Island Now the next day that the Hualalai tournament is under contract through 2030. That extension was announced in January 2025, more than a year before the Tour made its Hawaii announcement.
In the same April announcement, the Tour said what it was considering for Oahu:
"Conversations are ongoing about the Sony Open in Hawaiʻi moving to the PGA TOUR Champions schedule in conjunction with the existing Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualālai to create a two-tournament presence in the Aloha State."
The Tour framed the Oahu plan around "the existing" Hualalai event. The new Hawaii schedule was planned around the tournament already being played at Ka'upulehu.
The Senior Tour Takes Both Weeks
On July 1, 2026, the PGA Tour and Sony Group Corporation confirmed that the Sony Open will become a PGA Tour Champions event, renamed the Sony Championship Hawaii. It will stay at Waialae Country Club and will be played the week before Hualalai.
Here is how the two weeks line up on the dates announced so far:
| Sony Championship Hawaii | Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai | |
|---|---|---|
| Course | Waialae Country Club, Honolulu | Hualalai Golf Course, Ka'upulehu |
| Tournament week | Jan. 11–16, 2027 | Jan. 21–23, 2027 |
| Competition rounds | Thursday, Jan. 14 to Saturday, Jan. 16 | Thursday, Jan. 21 to Saturday, Jan. 23 |
| Format | 78 players, $3 million purse, three rounds on Golf Channel | Three rounds, 31st edition |
| Status | New to the senior tour in 2027 | Under contract through 2030 |
The final round at Waialae ends on a Saturday, and the first round at Hualalai starts the following Thursday. Big Island Now called the pair a two-week start to the season. The full 2027 PGA Tour Champions schedule had not been published as of early October. Where these two weeks fall in the rest of the season is still unknown.
Under the new arrangement, Waialae becomes the sixth course to host a PGA Tour Champions event after previously hosting a regular PGA Tour event. The Sony event's Champions players include Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh, Zach Johnson and K.J. Choi, all of whom were once regular Tour stars there. Many of the golfers who used to play Oahu in January will now play the senior event there the week before they come to Kona.
Thirty Years at Ka'upulehu
Hualalai was ready to step up because it already had a long-running senior event. The January 2026 tournament, played January 22 to 24, was the 30th. Hale Irwin, the tournament's first champion, came back as ambassador for the anniversary. The tour's Rookie of the Year award is named for Irwin, and he presents it.
Stewart Cink won the 30th edition at 23-under-par 193, three strokes ahead of Ángel Cabrera. He returns in January as defending champion.
Hualalai's short three-round format and senior field are the same format the Tour chose to keep pro golf on Oahu. Both Hawaii events now run Thursday through Saturday with pro-am days earlier in the week. At Waialae, the pro-ams are scheduled for Tuesday, January 12, and Wednesday, January 13.
The Money That Stays in Kona
The two events differ most in where the money goes. Sony says it has given more than $27 million to Hawaii nonprofits over its 28-year partnership with the Sony Open. IMG has been hired to run the new Sony Championship Hawaii.
At Hualalai, much of the work is done by local volunteers. Big Island Now reported that the Rotary Club of Kona provides about 400 volunteers for scoring, carrying standards, crowd control and parking. The tournament's proceeds are the club's only annual fundraiser.
In a January 20, 2026 release, the tournament reported $267,000 in charitable giving for 2025, split among four groups:
- Rotary Club of Kona
- Daniel R. Sayre Foundation
- Big Island Junior Golf Association
- Hualalai Ohana Foundation
The same release puts total giving to local community organizations at $2.64 million since 1997. Big Island Now gave a larger estimate of $3.5 million to $4 million. That figure counts both direct and indirect contributions to local charities, which is a wider measure than the release's donation total.
Sony's total is larger. Hualalai's money stays close to home, going to a Kona Rotary club, a junior golf group on this island, and a foundation named for the resort. Under the contract, that support continues through at least 2030.
January 21 to 23, From Your Side of the Ropes
If you plan to watch, here is what has been announced so far.
- Tickets. The tournament says 2027 tickets will go on sale later this year through TicketSauce, and tickets will also be sold at the gate. No 2027 prices have been posted.
- Parking and shuttles. The spectator page lists designated parking after you turn into the resort. Free shuttles loop from spectator parking to the General Admissions gate and to a separate stop near the 18th-hole clubhouse, running 8:45 a.m. to 6 p.m. The page is undated, so check these details with the organizers closer to January.
- Resident access. The tournament's pages do not mention a kama'aina rate or separate access for residents. Ask the organizers directly before you count on either.
- Volunteering. The volunteer staff has come through the Rotary Club of Kona, so the club is the place to ask about 2027.
Players coming from Oahu that week will find a few updates at the resort. Four Seasons Resort Hualalai finished renovating the Hualalai Spa's aqua-thermal areas in both locker rooms at the end of 2025. Its spring 2026 programming added a 46-foot catamaran for private fishing, whale-watching and snorkeling trips.
Miller & Lux Hualalai was scheduled to close for upgrades from August 18 to mid-November 2025. The resort's dining page now lists its dinner and lounge hours.
The resort's busy fall season has just ended. The 28th Run for Hope weekend was scheduled for September 11 and 12, and Four Seasons' 30th-anniversary program was scheduled for September 25 to October 2, with activities at the Cultural Center and golf competitions. January brings the tournament week.
Governor Josh Green thanked PGA Tour Champions and Sony for "perpetuating professional golf in the Hawaiian Islands." Starting in 2027, that means one week at Waialae and then the week at Hualalai.
Frank Schenk once held a leadership role at Hualalai Resort and has sold homes in the community since then. If you're thinking about how the January calendar fits with owning, hosting or renting out a home at Hualalai, Schenk Properties is happy to talk it through over coffee in Kona, with no agenda. Contact Us.
