The Hawaii Golf Course, which will host the season opening of the PGA Tour, was its seventh day on Thursday without irrigation water. This is a serious setback to save Kapalua’s plantation course in time for the January tournament.
The lack of irrigation stems from the conflict with Mauiland and Pineapple over Maui’s first century water system that brings irrigation to the western part of the island.
Kapalua Golf Resort last week decided to close the course for two months on September 2nd, allowing it to protect the grass.
However, the harsh situation got worse after that when MLP went from tier 2 restrictions (60% of normal irrigation) to tier 4 (no irrigation) over the weekend. Kapalua has not watered the plantation course since August 29th.
Alex Nakajima, general manager of Kapalua Golf and Tennis, said plans for Verticut and other measures are pending.
“We have all the plans,” Nakajima said Thursday. “But you can’t do anything without water. That’s difficult.”
At the heart of the conflict is the 11-mile Honokohau Stream and Ditch system, which runs from the Western Maui Mountains and supplies irrigation water to the Kapalua region.
Yanai, a Japanese billionaire who owns Kapalua and founded the apparel brand Uniqlo, along with Kapalua homeowner and Juamona Farms, filed a lawsuit against MLP on August 18, claiming that the water supply system was not maintained.
Mauiland & Pineapple, as directed by the Water Resources Management Board, “specific repairs and improvements to the groove system,” and all of its actions were “consistent with the agreement between the MLP and the golf course.”
The PGA Tour has been held in Kapalua since 1982. This was first performed as part of an unofficial season in the second half of the year before the season’s opening game in 1999.
“We previously warned that another Tier 4 shutdown is devastating to turfgrass, which has already been depleted from months without irrigation,” Kapalua said in a statement. “As course recovery is already uncertain under Tier 2, the second forced hangover will prepare the plantation course to the January PGA Tour standard, making it even more laborious.”
Nakajima couldn’t say how long the course could go without water before the PGA Tour season (January 5-11) began on Jeopardy.
“The longer we wait, the less good it will be for us,” he said.