Brown grass cost a famed golf course a big tournament and highlighted Hawaii water problems

High up on the slopes of the west Maui mountains , the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort provides golfers with expansive ocean views. The course is so renowned that The Sentry, a $20 million signature event for the PGA Tour , had been held there nearly every year for more than a quarter-century.

“You have to see it to believe it," said Ann Miller, a former longtime Honolulu newspaper golf writer. “You're looking at other islands, you're looking at whales. ... Every view is beautiful.”

Its world-class status also depends on keeping the course green.

But with water woes in west Maui — facing drought and still reeling from a deadly 2023 wildfire that ravaged the historic town of Lahaina — keeping the course green enough for The Sentry became difficult.

Ultimately, as the Plantatio