KAPALUA — The $50 million sale of the 18-year-old Kapalua Plantation Golf Course will not have any immediate impact on next year's Mercedes-Benz Championship, tournament chairman Gary Planos said yesterday.

The tournament is set for Jan. 7-10, when it will be played for the 12th — and perhaps final — time on the par-73, 7,411-yard Plantation Golf Course. The event that kicks off the PGA Tour season with a winners-only field from the 2009 season will be the final one in the current four-year contract between the tour, Mercedes-Benz USA and Kapalua Maui Charities.

''It is pretty much going to be very seamless,'' Planos said after news broke of the sale of the Plantation Golf Course from Maui Land & Pineapple Co. to TY Management Corp. ''It should be very good for all of us. We are excited.''

Planos said that he spoke with a PGA Tour official yesterday and there was no movement on a renewal of the contract.

''We still have the Mercedes-Benz Championship coming up in January, and we are still working on information beyond 2010 right now,'' he said. ''We'd like to continue hosting the championship, but we need to see where Mercedes is and where the tour is. At this time, right now, the farthest we can look ahead is 2010.''

Kapalua has retained management in the golf course via a leaseback arrangement with the investors who bought it.

''I'm sure the new owner would have a say, but they have enjoyed the success that the Mercedes-Benz Championship has had with the Plantation Course and I think they would be in agreement in continuing that kind of success,'' Planos said.

When asked when a decision on the future of the event would be made, Planos said it can't be determined yet.

Planos, also Kapalua's senior vice president in charge of resort operations, said there should be little if any change in the golf operations for the Plantation Golf Course.