KAPALUA, Maui — Collin Morikawa already knows this will be one of the most memorable weeks of his golf life, regardless of what occurs on the course starting with today’s first round of The Sentry.
It’s more about what happened a few miles down the road last summer than here on the Kapalua Plantation Course last winter, when Morikawa blew a five-shot lead in the final round and finished tied for second behind winner Jon Rahm.
It hit Morikawa harder than anyone else on the PGA Tour when the wildfires ravaged Lahaina on Aug. 8, killing more than 100 people and destroying in excess of 2,000 structures. That’s because one of those burned down buildings stood on the spot where his grandparents owned a restaurant decades ago.
“So this week always meant more to me,” said Morikawa, who has finished in the top 10 all four of the previous times he has played this event. “There’s only a few weeks out on Tour that have that meaning that no one else would know about other than myself, but this week, no matter what, 2024, when I look back at my career, 2024 Sentry will always mean that much more.”
Morikawa, who is in the first group to tee off at 7:45 this morning with Xander Schauffle and Tom Kim, has committed to donate $2,000 for every birdie he makes and $4, 000 for every eagle to help with Maui wildfire relief efforts. One of his sponsors, Adidas, has pledged to match his donations.
“So I’ve got a lot of birdies and eagles hopefully in my future,” said Morikawa, who at just 26 already has plenty in his past with six Tour victories, including the PGA Championship in 2020.
It will take quite a few to win here, where the greens are the biggest on the Tour and the field is comprised of champions from the previous year — and, in a new twist, augmented by other top money winners, totaling 59 of the world’s best players.
The 2023 Sentry champion, though, is noticeably missing as the PGA starts its season on Maui for the first time after a decade of a “wrap-around” schedule. Rahm is the most recent star to have left the PGA for the Saudi-funded LIV tour.
Morikawa declined to speculate on what will come of reported negotiations that would bring the PGA, LIV and European tours together. He’s taking the live and let LIV approach.
“I’m like right in the middle. I’m like, if you had a meal and you’re … full, but you know you want something else, you want dessert, kind of I’m sitting in that like zone,” Morikawa said. “I read up on everything that’s going on, but at this point all you can do is just play your best golf and show up and see what happens.
“At this point, I think just deals need to be made and we all need to get back to playing golf,” he added. “Guys make their decision to go one way, I’ve never had an issue with it, I’ve never had an issue with anything. Everyone makes their own decision. But I do miss playing with everyone at one time.”
There were some questions in the days immediately after Aug. 8 if anyone at all would be playing at Kapalua this week, if there would be a 2024 Sentry.
The course itself was not affected by the fires. But it was still not a given.
“The first thing we did was ask Maui leaders, ‘What do you want?’,” said Carolyn Schamberger, Sentry Insurance’s director of corporate communications. “It wasn’t a decision made in a silo (by Sentry). There were discussions with the governor (of Hawaii, Josh Gree ), the PGA, and the mayor (of Maui, Richard Bisser). One of the things from the get-go for us was not to be seasonal visitors. Our CEO, Pete McPartland, said we consider the people of Maui our ohana.”
Sentry donated over $2 million to help Maui recover from the wildfires, including $1 million in immediate aid, and another $1 million as part of an initiative to start programs for youth.