Golf scandal
gives Hawaii a
black eye
The FBI is hunting for
fees paid by golfers to enter
Pro Tour HawaiiBy Paul Arnett
Star-BulletinJUST THREE MONTHS AGO, Kevin Hayashi was one of the young golfing guns on the ill-fated Pro Tour Hawaii who hoped to cash in and make appearances at mainland tour events later in the year. But that seems unlikely now.
UPDATE In 2006, Pro Tour Hawaii's former chief financial officer Gregg V. Wood was convicted of defrauding the business and its owners Sandy and Tina Mohr. Wood was sentenced to federal prison but his conviction was overturned on appeal in 2007.
—Honolulu Star-Advertiser
For subsequent coverage of this case, see:
» March '05:
Scammed golfers have shot at par» June '06:
Golf tour backer convicted of fraud» Oct. '06:
Man gets 21 months for collapse of golf tour» Jan. '08:
Hawaii fraud victims won't be repaid $62,675
"This whole Pro Tour Hawaii kind of soured me," Hayashi said after yesterday's second round of the 38th annual Mid-Pacific Open. "I don't know what I'm going to do now. Just have to wait and see."
There has been little to report on the plight of Pro Tour Hawaii. The 70 professional golfers, many from the mainland who each paid an $11,500 entry fee, will likely never see that investment pay off.
The tour, which had a prize package of about $100,000 for each of the 10 scheduled tournaments, was canceled in February after only three events.
Hayashi won the first tourney and was the only winner whose check did not bounce.
Like his fellow professionals, he is hopeful that the investigation by the FBI will have positive results. At issue is about $700,000 that tour organizers Sandy Mohr and Greg Wood claim is gone.
Each reportedly blames the other. But for Hayashi and his fellow players, no concrete answers have been forthcoming. He talked to Mohr about a month ago, and the Kona resident said Wood was no longer in Hawaii.
"We just want to find the guy who is to blame and get our money back," Hayashi said.
"The FBI doesn't know what happened to the money. Some of the pros from the mainland call me to see what is happening, and unfortunately, I don't have any answers. We recently received a letter from the FBI asking each of us exactly how much we lost. If they ever recover anything, they want to know how much they need to pay us back. I don't think they know exactly how much money is missing."
Hayashi is owed $11,000 from the second and third tournaments, but fortunately for him, he used his credit card to pay the $11,500 entry fee.
Once it was determined that someone may have absconded with the funds, he was able to get his charges reversed.
"But I still lost the points I would have earned that would have helped me with the costs of maybe playing on a mainland tour," Hayashi said. "I think the goal of every professional golfer should be to play on the PGA Tour.
"Money we might have won on Pro Tour Hawaii would maybe help us with the costs of playing on a mainland tour. It's expensive. It takes about $2,000 a tournament to rent a car, a hotel, pay for meals and, of course, the air fare from here to the mainland. You have to go through stages. Now the cycle has been stopped. It short-circuited some of our dreams."
That includes local golfer Kendall Fukumoto, who was Hayashi's playing partner in the first two rounds of the Mid-Pac Open. He lost his entry fee after he paid for it in cash.
"When I went into the tour, they told me the money was put in escrow," Fukumoto said. "When the money is in escrow, I thought it took a couple of signatures before you could get it out. At the time, I asked Sandy Mohr (who was president and chief executive officer of Pro Tour Hawaii) personally if the money was in escrow, and he said yes.
"He said Greg Wood (who Hayashi said was a financial backer) told him it was, so Sandy probably didn't know for sure. Greg Wood's name only came up after this whole thing started."
Hayashi is hopeful a reputable sponsor will step up to try to hold a similar event. He believes a big-name company such as Nike could come in and make it work.
"You know, CNBC was supposed to show these tournaments tape-delay," Hayashi said. "So you can see the interest was there. I'm just hoping the police and the FBI can find out what happened, maybe find some of the money and pay back all the guys.
"A lot of the mainland guys lost a lot more. They flew their families over here and set them up for the entire time. There were only seven or eight guys from Hawaii in this thing. It looks bad for our state."
Mohr and Wood were unavailable for comment. The FBI will not say any more than that the investigation is continuing.
Wood lived on Maui as recently as two months ago. He told the Star-Bulletin in February that he was not in hiding and that he also runs a development company in Florida.