The Hawaii Golf Course, which is able to host the season opening of the PGA Tour, was its seventh day on Thursday with out irrigation water. This can be a critical setback to save lots of Kapalua’s plantation course in time for the January match.
The dearth of irrigation stems from the battle with Mauiland and Pineapple over Maui’s first century water system that brings irrigation to the western a part of the island.
Kapalua Golf Resort final week determined to shut the course for 2 months on September 2nd, permitting it to guard the grass.
Nonetheless, the cruel state of affairs bought worse after that when MLP went from tier 2 restrictions (60% of regular irrigation) to tier 4 (no irrigation) over the weekend. Kapalua has not watered the plantation course since August twenty ninth.
Alex Nakajima, basic supervisor of Kapalua Golf and Tennis, mentioned plans for Verticut and different measures are pending.
“We’ve got all of the plans,” Nakajima mentioned Thursday. “However you may’t do something with out water. That is tough.”
On the coronary heart of the battle is the 11-mile Honokohau Stream and Ditch system, which runs from the Western Maui Mountains and provides irrigation water to the Kapalua area.
Yanai, a Japanese billionaire who owns Kapalua and based the attire model Uniqlo, together with Kapalua home-owner and Juamona Farms, filed a lawsuit towards MLP on August 18, claiming that the water provide system was not maintained.
Mauiland & Pineapple, as directed by the Water Assets Administration Board, “particular repairs and enhancements to the groove system,” and all of its actions have been “in keeping with the settlement between the MLP and the golf course.”
The PGA Tour has been held in Kapalua since 1982. This was first carried out as a part of an unofficial season within the second half of the yr earlier than the season’s opening recreation in 1999.
“We beforehand warned that one other Tier 4 shutdown is devastating to turfgrass, which has already been depleted from months with out irrigation,” Kapalua mentioned in a press release. “As course restoration is already unsure below Tier 2, the second pressured hangover will put together the plantation course to the January PGA Tour commonplace, making it much more laborious.”
Nakajima could not say how lengthy the course may go with out water earlier than the PGA Tour season (January 5-11) started on Jeopardy.
“The longer we wait, the much less good will probably be for us,” he mentioned.
