HONOLULU (AP) — The golf season in Hawaii again starts at Waialae Country Club next year as a PGA Tour Champions event that will be called the Sony Championship.
The PGA Tour and Sony on Wednesday announced the change, which had been expected since April when the tour said it would not be returning to Maui for The Sentry, which since 1999 had preceded the Sony Open.
The Sony Championship will be Jan. 14-16 — ending on a Saturday — at Waialae, which
had hosted a PGA Tour event since 1965. The prize fund will be $3 million. Past champions at Waialae now on the 50-and-older circuit include Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Zach Johnson and Jerry Kelly.
It will be the sixth PGA Tour Champions course once hosted a PGA Tour event.
"Sony has been an incredible PGA Tour partner since 1999, and we are looking forward to beginning this new era with the legends of the game competing on a truly iconic venue in Waialae Country Club,” said Miller Brady, president of PGA Tour Champions.
The transition keeps intact a charity component. Sony has contributed more than $27 million for Hawaii nonprofit organizations since it began as title sponsor in 1999. Hiroki Totoki, president and CEO of Sony Group Corp., said that was the “highest priority” in extending the partnership.
“We look forward to continuing our commitment to the state of Hawaii, and also to welcoming back many of the players and champions who have been such an important part of our history,” Totoki said. “We relish the opportunity to create new opportunities to deepen the connection between the tournament, our business community, and the people of Hawaii.”
IMG has been hired to run the tournament. The 78-man field at Sony is likely to be followed by the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai on the Big Island. It has not been determined if those tournaments will swap spots for future years.
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