In October, the PGA Tour announced its decision to cancel The Sentry 2026 outing in Hawaii. The call came after the American circuit failed to find an alternative venue to host the season-opener event in January. Now, J.J. Spaun has admitted being ‘really bummed’ by the decision.The Sentry 2026 was set to tee off the new season starting January 8. However, the event was forced to move out of its regular venue, the Plantation Course at Kapalua on the Island of Maui due to drought condition in the area. The PGA Tour scrapped the event citing logistical challenges of relocating the competition completely. Spaun has now noted that he will be eyeing to open his new season with the Sony Open in Hawaii, the new season-opener.It is pertinent to note that the reigning US Open champion has missed The Sentry last two years and the Sony Open was his season introduction both seasons.Detailing his schedule for 2026, J.J. Spaun said at the Hero World Challenge 2025, as quoted by Tee Scripts:“Yeah, I'm really bummed we are we're not going to Sentry. I love going to Hawaii, it's very close from where I live in Arizona. Close to the west coast so it's not too much of a journey. Granted, how I played last year I'm very strongly considering going. We'll just kind of decide in the upcoming weeks.”For the unversed, Spaun finished T3 at the Sony Open earlier this year. The 35-year-old will be eyeing to better his result next month. The 2026 edition of the Hawaii outing will be played from 15-18 January at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu.Why did the PGA Tour cancel The Sentry 2026?The PGA Tour’s traditional season-opener tournament, The Sentry, was dropped from the 2026 schedule after drought and water conservation issues affected the Hawaiian island of Maui. The American circuit dropped the event after failing to find an alternative venue for the Plantation course in Kapalua, that has hosted the PGA Tour since 1999.It is pertinent to note that the iconic venue has so far closed two of its courses due to severe water restrictions. A with the company in charge of a century-old water delivery system to the course played a major role in the recent course shutdown.The PGA Tour said in a statement, as quoted by Sky Sports:"After assessing alternate venues in Hawaii and beyond, the tour determined it would not be able to contest The Sentry in 2026 because of logistical challenges - including shipping deadlines, tournament infrastructure and vendor support.”Stephanie Smith, the chief marketing and brand officer at Sentry, later confirmed that the event won’t be making a return to the PGA Tour schedule. It is pertinent to note that this is the first time a tour event has been completely dropped since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Owing to this, the circuit will have a non-Sentry season opener for the first time since 2001, when the tour traveled to Australia with the World Golf Championship in January.