Friends of Hawaii Charities hosted the Sony Open PGA golf tournament in Hawaiʻi for 28 years. Over that time, it raised nearly $28 million in grants for nonprofits in Hawaiʻi that serve children, older people and underserved communities.
But January's tournament at Waialae Country Club was the last PGA Tour event for Friends of Hawaii Charities. The nonprofit's president, Corbett Kalama, said it's because 141 Global, the management company that was in charge of the Sony Open, was forced to shut down.
The reason for that was because the PGA Tour cut the Sony Open from its schedule, as well as The Sentry tournament on Maui. There will be another tournament in Honolulu next year, only it will be a PGA Tour Champions event called the Sony Championship Hawaii.
The Sony Open was a full-field event for the top 100-plus male golfers in the world. Oʻahu's Waialae Country Club had hosted the event since it started in 1965 as the Hawaiian Open.
Now Waialae will host the Sony Championship Hawaii. That tournament will feature the best golfers age 50 and older when it takes place in January. It will be shown on the Golf Channel over three days and is expected to be seen in more than 170 countries and territories through 22 media partners.
Meanwhile, Friends of Hawaiʻi Charities distributed $1.2 million raised from the Sony Open to local nonprofits in May.
The nonprofit said that as of this month it is handling all charitable initiatives on its own to support its mission and legacy.
