The Sony Open in Hawaii will have a different look for its “re-imagined” 2021 COVID-19 era event, including a bubble concept for players and essential personnel, officials said.
Corporate skyboxes and the Pro-Junior event “will take a one-year hiatus,” due to enhanced health and safety measures, but the annual Wednesday Pro-Am will remain for the Jan. 11-17 event at Waialae Country Club, tournament director Ray Stosik said.
Stosik said spectator attendance for the PGA Tour’s first full-field tournament of the year has yet to be established and will be determined later based on applicable state and municipal guidelines at the time.
In good years the Sony Open, which will be celebrating its 23rd year, has drawn as many as 15,000 per day over a five-day stretch.
This year, after initially being played without spectators, some recent PGA Tour events have allowed as many as 5,000 per day depending on the rules in the areas where they have been held.
“We’ve been working with government and health officials and will have a better idea as we get closer to January,” Stosik said. “Safety first is our motto, especially this year.”
Additionally, Stosik said, “We are working on a full testing program that is inside the bubble (for players and essential workers), which we will share with the general public later on.”
Tickets, which in past years have usually gone on sale around Thanksgiving, will be available at a later date to be announced.
While attendance is still to be decided, Stosik said there is a commitment from the Sony Corporation to maintain the $1.2 million contribution to the Friends of Hawaii Charities.
“Sony’s support is met with deeper gratitude than perhaps ever before given the unique challenges our island community now faces,” Stosik and Corbett Kalama, Friends of Hawaii Charities president, said in a letter to key stakeholders.