Waialae has hosted a PGA Tour event every January since 1965. Some of golf’s greatest names have won there, including Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino. It is one of the longest-running stops on the PGA Tour calendar. After 61 years, however, that streak has come to an end. Not because the PGA Tour has abandoned the venue, but because the tournament has undergone a major change.

Starting in 2027, the Sony Championship moves its tournament sponsorship from the PGA Tour to the PGA Tour Champions, the tour for players over 50. The event gets a new name, too: the Sony Championship Hawaii. It keeps its home at the Waialae Country Club. The event will run from January 11th through 16th, with a $3 million purse and a 78-player field.

The PGA TOUR Champions confirmed the move on their official account on X. The tournament’s own account, the Sony Championship Hawaii, also shared their official statement from Hawaii Governor Josh Green.

“We are so proud to see this next chapter unfold and grateful for partners who share our commitment to Hawaii’s people and future. Mahalo to the PGA TOUR champion and Sony Group Corporation leadership for perpetuating professional golf in the Hawaiian Islands,” he said.

Golf reporter Josh Carpenter summed it up in plain terms. Sony is officially handing its PGA Tour sponsorship to the PGA Tour Champions.

A legitimate question that comes to mind is why now? The change is not in the wake of the new PGA Tour rule. Rather, it’s about Hawaii’s place on the schedule. Hawaii used to host two PGA Tour events every January. The first was the Sentry, played at the Kapalua on Maui. The second was the Sony Open, played the following week at Waialae. Players often stayed in Hawaii for both back-to-back events.

However, a severe drought hit Maui this year and turned it into a legal fight over the island’s water supply. The Kapalua course dried out and became unplayable, so the Tour had to cancel The Sentry entirely. So rather than dropping Hawaii from golf’s calendar completely, the Tour moved the Sony Open down to PGA Tour Champions, where the field and travel demands work differently.

Several past Sony Open champions, including Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh, Zach Johnson, and K.J. Choi, now compete on PGA Tour Champions. All five players are expected to be back in Waialae once the new event starts.

That said, Sony’s tie to Hawaii runs deeper than the leaderboard itself. The company has donated more than $27 million to local nonprofits through this tournament. They funded programs for families and seniors across the island. With this major change, that tradition would still go on, but under the name of the Champions Tour.