This photo taken May 23, 2025, shows a steel intake screen on the Honokōhau Ditch System. Courtesy photo
Tadashi Yanai, the richest man in Japan, is leading a lawsuit against Maui Land & Pineapple, claiming the company failed to maintain the more than century old Honokōhau Ditch System, which has led to severe water shortages and restrictions in West Maui.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in the Second Circuit Court on Maui, also revealed that the Plantation Golf Course at Kapalua may have to close due to deteriorating conditions caused by the water restrictions. That would result in the end of The Sentry, the long-running PGA Tour tournament on Maui.
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Yanai’s company, TY Management Corporation, was joined in the lawsuit by Hua Momona Farms and the homeowners associations for Kapalua developments Plantation Estates, Coconut Grove and The Ridge at Kapalua.
The 60-page lawsuit says residents, farmers and businesses in Kapalua and other parts of West Maui all depend on the water supplied by the Honokōhau Ditch System, which is owned and operated by Maui Land & Pineapple.
“MLP is doing a terrible, actionable job of complying with its responsibilities,” the lawsuit said.
Among the businesses that are suffering, according to the lawsuit, are the Plantation and Bay golf courses in Kapalua that are owned by Yanai’s TY Management Corporation. The Japanese billionaire also is the founder of the clothing brand Uniqlo.
The suit said that at the current rate of deterioration of the courses, which require water to maintain healthy greens and fairways, they would be unplayable within two weeks of the filing of the complaint and that the TY “will have no choice but to imminently close the courses.”
For now, the PGA Tour is still expecting to play The Sentry tournament at the Plantation Course, announcing on Wednesday it is the tour’s 2026 season opener, running Jan. 8-11. The Sentry has been played at the Kapalua course every year since 1999.
The Sentry is one of nine Signature events on the PGA Tour, up from eight a year ago, and the smaller-field event carries more FedEx Cup playoff points and an increased purse of $20 million than regular-season events.
This photo taken Aug. 18, 2025, shows the Plantation Course at Kapalua with deteriorating brown fairways and greens that need water to remain green in West Maui. Courtesy photo
Race Randle, CEO of Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc., said in a statement that the water issues are larger than a golf tournament.
“We received and are reviewing the complaint filed by the golf courses, which appears to be a continuation of their efforts to compel the use of water for irrigation during this time when West Maui is experiencing a historic drought,” Randle said. “Having tried and failed to get the regulatory agencies to force this irresponsible water use, the golf courses, unfortunately, turned to the courts.”
Maui Land & Pineapple said it is following directions from the state Commission on Water Resource Management. The lawsuit said the company put in tier 3 (60% reductions) and tier 4 (100% reductions) on the plaintiffs in Kapalua for most of the past five months.
“Out of the 154 days immediately preceding the filing of this Complaint … all Plaintiffs have been restricted to using no irrigation water for 136 days, and restricted using only forty percent of their historical irrigation water usage for the remaining 18 days,” the lawsuit said.
Maui has been in and out of drought conditions for decades, pushing the county to consider higher water rates for the biggest users. It’s been a particular problem in West Maui where there was a shortfall in supply even before the 2023 wildfires. Community members have long raised complaints over frequent water shortages while golf courses remain green and swimming pools stay filled.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources said in a news release on March 13 that some Maui streams were running at record lows.
Dr. Aryon Strauch, lead hydrologist with the state Commission on Water Resource Management, said in the news release that the median flow for Honokōhau Stream this time of year is usually about 12 to 13 million gallons per day. But in one week in March the stream was flowing at only 5.5 to 6 million gallons per day.
Some stream flows in East Maui were the lowest in 105 years, Strauch said.
“We’ve not seen low flows like this across the state to this extent ever before,” Strauch said.
The Honokōhau Ditch System is part of the Pu‘u Kukui Watershed Preserve, encompassing more than 8,600 acres. Honolua Stream is part of the Pu’u Kukui watershed and Kaluanui Stream is an intermittent tributary of the Honokōhau Stream.
“MLP is the steward of Pu‘u Kukui Watershed Preserve — one of the state’s largest privately-owned nature preserves … A critical public benefit provided by Pu‘u Kukui Watershed Preserve is recharging the streams and aquifer that supply a significant amount of the fresh water used by West Maui residents and businesses,” Maui Land & Pine said.
But Maui Land & Pineapple is disputing its sole responsibility for the ditch system. In an email this week to the Hawai‘i Journalism Initiative, the company said: “previous intakes at Honolua Stream and Kaluanui Stream were destroyed by Hurricanes Olivia and Lane (in 2018), and the State of Hawai‘i did not permit their restoration. In addition, Honokōhau intake was damaged by the hurricanes and was not permitted to be repaired.”
This screenshot photo shows the 18th green (left foreground) and the first fairway at the Kapalua Plantation Course just prior to The Sentry PGA Tour golf tournament played Jan. 2-5, 2025.
Alex Nakajima, the Kapalua Golf and Tennis general manager who oversees 300 employees, said half his workforce is for the restaurants on the property — the Plantation House in the Plantation Course clubhouse and Taverna in the Bay Course clubhouse. The other half of the workforce is tied to the golf courses.
“This impact is deep, going into the community, restaurants and the hotel bookings,” Nakajima said.
With the current brown conditions of the grass at the Plantation Course, Nakajima said he didn’t think it would be able to host The Sentry high-profile tournament. “No. To my eyes no. But that is a PGA Tour decision.”
The PGA Tour on Thursday declined to comment about the lawsuit. Maui County and tournament sponsor Sentry Insurance also declined to comment on Thursday.
This photo taken this month shows the fourth and fifth holes at the Kapalua Bay Course. Courtesy photo
The lack of water already has affected the bottom line of the golf courses. The lawsuit said the greens fees to play at both golf courses have been slashed by about 60%. The Plantation Course standard rate is currently reduced from $469 to $199, and the local rate is reduced from $109 to $79. The Bay Course standard rate is reduced from $279 to $99, and the local rate is reduced from $75 to $49.
In a statement, Yanai’s company said, “TY Management has been a community partner on Maui for 15 years and remains committed to supporting residents, cultural practitioners and local businesses. We believe water is a public trust that must be managed fairly and transparently.”
This photo shows the Kapalua Bay Course’s fourth and fifth holes on Dec. 19, 2024. Courtesy photo
The statement continued, “TY has invested over $10 million in conservation and alternative water infrastructure, and we’ve repeatedly tried to work with MLP to resolve these issues. After repeated attempts with no resolution, we have no choice but to pursue legal action to protect fair access and ensure water is managed responsibly.”
Gary Grube, owner of Hua Momona Farms, said on Friday he joined the lawsuit because he felt like his voice as a farm owner could not only help his property but his neighbors as well.
“I’m not weighing in on who’s deserving of water more than the other, but, yes, we know that the whole neighborhood uses the irrigation waters fed from the (Honokōhau Ditch) system,” he said. “They’re not delivering it and if they were to fix it, it’d probably be okay.”
Grube bought his 25-acre parcel in the Plantation Estates area in 2017 and started farming organic microgreens on it in 2019. This year he said he tried to start growing sod but that failed due to the water stoppage: “We were supposed to be harvesting now. We’re not. It’s really pathetic looking.”
Nakajima said his employees know that the reduction in playing rates for the golf courses is not a good sign for their jobs, which are all largely tied to the golf courses. Some of those Kapalua employees live in housing provided by Yanai at Kapalua Village after the deadly wildfire happened on Aug. 8, 2023. The project has 50 temporary modular homes that provide housing for about 200 people.
“They’re all concerned, for good reason,” Nakajima said. “We still don’t know how much of the grass is recoverable. … if the fairways become unplayable, then there’s no golf.”
Nakajima added that the lawsuit is not just for TY Management Corporation, but also the homeowners associations named in the suit.
“This lawsuit is really not only for us because the homeowners are suffering, too,” Nakajima said. “Their landscaping has been dying.”
The Sentry tournament has persisted through COVID-19 and the deadly Lahaina wildfire on Aug. 8, 2023. The Sentry has generated $10 million for local community charities over its 27-year history and Sentry Insurance, the title sponsor, has donated more than $2 million to fire relief since August 2023.
James Kunane Tokioka, the director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, said he has been following the lawsuit, along with Gov. Josh Green.
“As time is of the essence, we’re aiming for a prompt and favorable resolution,” Tokioka said.
Maui County Council Member Tamara Paltin, who holds the West Maui residency seat, said Friday that she has been in behind-the-scenes discussions on the viability of The Sentry being played at the Plantation Course beginning in 138 days, saying: “My understanding is within the next couple of days, the tournament is going to make a call on whether it’s a redeemable situation or not.”
Paltin added that she hopes to see the complex issue of water usage in West Maui come to some sort of solution from this lawsuit.
“I would love to see more transparency in the system, like what has been done, what hasn’t been done, what needs to be done,” Paltin said. “So to me, that’s one of the best parts of this lawsuit is if we get that kind of transparency as a community, as a county, like what has been done to maintain it, what has been done to make sure it’s functioning optimally.”
In 2022, the estimated economic impact by the tournament representatives was $48 million for Maui. While it is not available yet, the figure likely was higher for this year’s tournament that was held Jan. 2-5.
The lawsuit states that the reasoning for the suit goes beyond golf and tourism.
“Plaintiffs bring this case against MLP because MLP has abused the trust of residents, farmers, and businesses in Kapalua and parts of West Maui, all of whom are now being starved for irrigation water by MLP,” the suit says.
In April, the state Commission on Water Resource Management denied a request from TY Management Corporation to force MLP “to immediately resume providing an uninterrupted and adequate supply of irrigation water to TY by using well water to supplement the irrigation water from the Honokōhau Ditch” in a letter to TY Management Corporation lawyers.
The two sides have 20 days from Monday’s filing to come to an out-of-court agreement, lawyers who spoke on the condition of anonymity said. But Nakajima said time is already running short to save the golf courses in Kapalua, which are managed by the Troon golf management company.
“We’re very good at managing water all over the world,” Nakajima said. “But without it we can’t do anything. We’re handcuffed.”
The company put in celebration Bermuda grass, a water efficient strain, on the Plantation Course in a 2019 refurbishment project.
Nakajima said to be ready for The Sentry Jan. 8-11, 2026, watering the Plantation Course “needs to start immediately.”
Randle, the Maui Land & Pineapple CEO, is hopeful that things can be worked out as his company continues to follow the rules as they interpret them through the Commission on Water Resources Management, the state agency that administers the State Water Code, which was created by the 1987 Hawai‘i State Legislature.
“We are following the clear guidance from the Commission on Water Resources Management to prioritize streamflow and traditional and customary uses, followed by delivery to the County of Maui to provide drinking water for Lahaina,” Randle said. “We will continue to follow CWRM’s guidance.”
