Kapalua Golf has announced it is back open for business.

The facility, one of the best golf properties in Hawaii and site of the PGA Tour’s Sentry (formerly Tournament of Champions) event, has been closed since Maui suffered a series of wildfires in August. Kapalua’s Bay Course is now offering tee times, with the more famous Plantation Course set to reopen in mid-October.

“Our team truly appreciates the outpouring of support from around the globe over the past six weeks,” said Kapalua Golf general manager Alex Nakajima. “Our staff was deeply impacted by the fires, with nearly a third losing their homes and possessions. As associates and the community work to heal, we continue to support them; welcoming back team members to work as they are ready. As we continue the recovery process, we are reopening our two golf courses for Kama’aina (local residents) on island and for those planning their return to Maui. As millions discovered during the pandemic, a round of golf can be good medicine for the mind, body and soul.”

The fires were spread out over 17,000 acres of land and caused over $6 billion in damage, with 97 dead and another 30 people still missing. With recovery efforts ongoing, the wildfire tragedy seemingly puts the Sentry in doubt.

But PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said last month that the tour hopes to be a “source of inspiration for the great people of Maui and Lahaina by the time that we get to Maui in January”.

“Absolutely,” Monahan said at the Tour Championship when asked if the tour will host the event in Maui. “But I think at this point there’s so many unknowns, and we want to be respectful of the challenges. We want to help be a part of the revitalisation. There are a lot of considerations. We’re committed, you know, if we’re allowed to, if we’re invited, if we’re embraced, given all that needs to be accomplished, we will be there 100 per cent.

“The PGA Tour, when moments like this happen, this is when we’re at our best. So we don’t have the answer to that right now, but we want to do everything we can to make certain that that’s a moment for the people of Maui that is entirely helpful and inspiring. And I would also add that our partner in Sentry has been there every step of the way and is doing some pretty remarkable things right now alongside our team and we’ll have more to add on that front. But we are hopeful to be there.”

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The heights of golf, however, he’s not hesitant to scale.

Wolff is just seven months into his professional career, so there’s much for him still to learn and much for us to learn about him. But one thing we already know of the two-time collegiate All-American is that despite his age—at 20 he was the youngest player in the field at the just-completed Sentry Tournament of Champions—and the unorthodox swing, he has a few important things figured out.

After shooting an even-par 73 at the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort on Sunday, Wolff finished T-12 with a seven-under 285. He wasn’t at all disappointed in his closing effort on a breezy day along the west Maui mountains, rallying from some early mistakes that led to making the turn two over par.

“I felt like I was pretty patient out there,” said Wolff, the second-youngest ever to compete, after Jordan Spieth, in the winner’s only PGA Tour event. “I didn’t have a lot of putts drop, but you know, with how windy it was, it was hard to make anything, so I was kind of surprised how low the scores were, to be honest,” he said. “I knew it was gettable with not a lot of wind, but I was pretty pleased with how I played … and I finished even par in 25 to 35 mph winds.”

Career-wise Wolff has had the wind at his back, but that is mostly by design. The California native has taken every next step carefully and with calculating efficiency. He didn’t turn professional last June because he was in a hurry to play on the PGA Tour, even though that has been his goal for a long time. He made sure he was prepared. And that he felt prepared.

“My dream was always to be a PGA Tour player,” Wolff said. “I was realistic with myself, even in high school I was playing really good and was nationally ranked as a junior golfer, but it’s still so hard. I was always realistic, like, ‘I’m going to put in the work and I don’t want to look back and be like, I could have worked harder and regret it.’

“I kind of just did what Tiger Woods did,” Wolff added. “I never really moved up in age groups [as a kid]. I just wanted to dominate the one I was in. … I would make sure that I wasn’t just a fluke, I would want to win and learn how to win. And then you move up.”

Wolff played just two seasons for Oklahoma State. As a freshman in 2018 he helped the Cowboys win the NCAA Division I title. In his sophomore season, he won six times, including the NCAA individual title at the Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. The Cowboys, however, lost in the semifinals of the team competition. Wolff figured there wasn’t much left to do collegiately. It was time to move up again.

“Once I got into college, that kind of sparked me that I can actually do this and can play against the best at each level, so if I just keep on improving and working hard, I don’t see why I can’t play against the best at the highest level,” he said.

Wolff hits his first official shot of 2020 at the Sentry Tournament Of Champions. (Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

Wolff quickly proved he could play against the best at the highest level, winning in just his third start as a professional at the 3M Open in Minnesota in early July.

Clearly, he had a good grasp of his own learning curve. And he still does. That’s significant.

Wolff, whose next start is at The American Express next week in Palm Springs, Calif., won’t panic into thinking he has more to prove in 2020 or has to win again to validate his maiden victory. Ranked 98th in the world, Wolff is assessing his progress not by high finishes, but rather by a high-gloss finish to his game.

The plan is simple: improve, just as he did in college.

“I do have a lot of confidence, internally, in my game, but I don’t show it. But I want to walk on the tee like Brooks [Koepka] does where he just looks like he knows he’s the best player. Rory [McIlroy] walks that way. You can tell that they think they’re the man,” Wolff said. “Right now, though, I just want to feel like I’m getting better. If I’m honest with myself, I feel like if I got better and I know I got better, then that’s a successful season. I’m not going to say that if I had two wins this year but I finish, whatever on the FedEx [Cup] and drop [back], and I look at all my stats and they’re down, then I know it wasn’t really a good year. I just had two good weeks. You look at the best players, they’re consistent. They’re up there week after week after week.”

These next few weeks will be fun for Wolff, as he’ll stay in California and practice out of Sherwood Country Club, where he has an honorary membership. He’ll also hang out with family and friends in between playing every West Coast event except the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

In addition to being a good player, Wolff wants to grow the game. He wants to help make it a cooler sport. When he was younger, he didn’t always feel like a cool kid because he played golf, something fellow California native Xander Schauffele also admitted to at Kapalua. At 20, and an exempt tour player, Wolff is more inclined to—and capable of—connecting with junior players and fans.

“Golf is a great game, and you know, it is a gentleman’s game and so many people play it, but I’m trying to get more kids and make it more fun instead of, you know, being looked at as kind of like a country club sport,” he said. “I want it to be a more popular sport. Golf can reach such a broad spectrum, but it’s just not quite there yet.”

Wolff isn’t quite there yet, either, but he’s not worried. He’s just working on one day being the man. That would be the height of success.

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By Ryan Herrington
Winless during the 2017-’18 PGA Tour season, Marc Leishman had yet to qualify for the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui the first week of January. But on Sunday, the 34-year-old Aussie shot a seven-under 65 at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia to close out a five-stroke victory and earn a place into the winners-only event.

It turns out, however, that Leishman had a hunch he’d find his way into the event. After closing out a five-stroke triumph at the CIMB Classic, Leishman confessed that he had already booked his trip to Hawaii.

“I was actually talking to my wife about that two weeks ago, and we booked flights to go back to Australia and had to book sort of return ones back to America, and I just booked them for Maui, thinking that I’ll either be playing in the tournament or we’ll go for a vacation there,” Leishman said. “Now I’ll be playing a golf tournament. I know Audrey will be very excited, as my kids will be.”

RELATED: Leishman’s CIMB Classic triumph a good sign for the Presidents Cup Internationals

Twice before Leishman has played at the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort, finishing T-23 in 2013 and T-7 last January.

Leishman said he considered Hawaii one of his favourite places in the world, so if his bet on himself failed, it wasn’t the worst outcome.

“To be able to play two weeks there at two of my favourite golf tournaments is certainly something to look forward to.”

EIGHT birdies in the final round to clinch the @CIMBClassic.@MarcLeish‘s Sunday in less than five minutes: pic.twitter.com/WNPiof8XQ7

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 14, 2018

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By Dave Shedloski
Among Justin Thomas’ foremost Christmas memories is how his parents always held back a surprise gift that they kept hidden until he had opened all of his other presents. One year, the big gift was a Scotty Cameron putter tucked under the couch.

This year they might as well skip the whole thing.

Christmas, of a sort, came early and often for Thomas in 2017. He won five times, including back-to-back events in Hawaii to start the year, captured his first major in August at the PGA Championship, and capped things with the FedEx Cup title and its $10 million bonus. He was a shoo-in for PGA Tour Player of the Year when it was announced in October.

Naturally, this presents a dilemma.

“My parents and my girlfriend get so mad because they said it’s hard to get something for someone who already has everything,” Thomas said Monday during a teleconference. “I told them I don’t need anything. I don’t want anything.”

Not true. There are three other majors he’d like to win, not to mention other tour titles. Of course, those aren’t exactly things you find under the tree on Dec. 25.

Otherwise, life is good for the Goshen, Ky., native, who has been laying low the last few weeks in anticipation of ramping things back up quickly in 2018. He’s set to defend his title at the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua Resort in Maui the first week of January. Then he’ll play in the Sony Open in Hawaii, where he shot an opening 59 to spur a wire-to-wire victory.

The rest of his 2018 schedule will look largely the same as this year. The trick for Thomas is to not gauge the new season based upon his break-out 2017 campaign.

“Just as the year goes on, trying not to compare this year to last year,” Thomas said of one of his biggest upcoming challenges. “Say, if I’m halfway through the year and haven’t won yet, or if I haven’t played well. Or even if I have played well but just not as well. I know I’m constantly going to get reminded of what I did this [coming] year compared to last year. Whether it’s better or worse. The hard part is going to be staying in the moment and recognizing it’s a new year. It’s a new opportunity for great things, and I just need to continue to work hard.”

While Thomas, 24, doesn’t share his list of goals for the coming year, he doesn’t hesitate to point out some areas that need improving.

“I look at stats a lot. The driving distance is fine, but I would love to start hitting more fairways,” he said. “Inside 10 feet putting I want to get better. I wanted to be better at outside 10 feet last year, and I did, but then inside 10 feet I struggled.”

What isn’t a struggle is finding motivation. Though he won $9.9 million to go with his $10 million FedEx Cup bonus, Thomas has little trouble gearing up for a new season. Financial rewards do not figure in his calculations for success.

“I truly don’t [think about money] … it’s hard to explain,” he began. “Obviously, I’m excited. It’s nice. Never have I said I am playing golf to win this money. I truly am playing because I want to win a lot of golf tournaments. I want to win majors, and hopefully I’ll have a Hall of Fame type career. The money is just a bonus. I’m sure a lot of people don’t believe me, but I’ve never thought about the money.

“It’s what I love. Playing golf and competing to win is something I’ve dreamed of doing since I was a little kid.”

Call it the gift that keeps on giving.

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