Kapalua Golf – The Plantation Course at Kapalua will host the 2027 LPGA LOTTE Championship, a return to form that arrives just days before a pivotal water rights trial.
The Plantation Course at Kapalua is once again lush and tournament-ready. a sharp reversal from the brown. scorched fairways that forced the cancellation of the PGA Tour’s The Sentry last year. By March 18. 2027. the par-73. 7. 596-yard course will shift from a scene of legal friction to the center of professional sports. hosting a field of 120 LPGA professionals for the LOTTE Championship.
While the fairways have recovered following a rainy summer, the underlying conflict remains unresolved. The championship’s four-day run concludes just days before a March 29 trial in 2nd Circuit Court. That litigation stems from an August 2025 lawsuit filed by TY Management—the owner of the Plantation and Bay courses—against Maui Land & Pineapple Co. Joined by three homeowners’ associations and Hua Momona Farms. the plaintiffs claimed the company’s failure to maintain the Honokōhau ditch system caused the courses to deteriorate. forcing temporary closures.
Maui Land & Pineapple Co. has consistently denied these claims, attributing the conditions to the driest year on record for Maui. CEO Race Randle stated that the company has made no changes to the system because it was never the problem. noting that current irrigation levels are possible only because of increased rainfall. Meanwhile. TY Management’s general manager. Kenji Yui. confirmed the course is in fantastic shape but declined to comment on whether any specific operational adjustments were made to secure that improvement.
The tension over water usage in West Maui runs deeper than the golf course greens. During June 2025. when the water system was under Tier 4 restrictions. Maui Land & Pineapple reported that the golf courses used over 11 million gallons of water. while agricultural tenants received none and Maui County drinking water accounted for 80. 000 gallons. Local farmers in the Honokōhau Valley have long raised alarms over rotting kalo patches. citing low streamflow and prioritizing golf course irrigation over their own crops. In December, the state Commission on Water Resource Management fined Maui Land & Pineapple $140,000 for violating streamflow standards.
For residents like Kapali Keahi. a lineal descendant of Honokōhau. the return of a major tournament feels like a complex trade-off. While the loss of The Sentry—a staple for 27 years—represented an estimated $50 million economic blow. Keahi views the continued prioritization of luxury golf as a sign that economic growth has outpaced the region’s ecological capacity. Although Tadashi Yanai. the billionaire owner of TY Management. donated $750. 000 to local nonprofits following the cancellation of The Sentry. Keahi emphasizes that water remains a fundamental need. not a luxury.
As the course prepares for its first LPGA event since 2008, the broader path toward water management remains in flux. Maui Land & Pineapple is currently negotiating the sale of the water system to Maui County. a transition aimed at fostering a more interconnected storage system for droughts and emergencies. As of late last year, the company was also moving to install a U.S. Geological Survey stream gauge below its diversions. For now. the focus shifts to the upcoming tournament. even as the community waits for the courts to decide who truly owns the right to the water that keeps the grass green.
Kapalua Golf LPGA Maui Land & Pineapple LOTTE Championship water rights The Sentry Hawaii news