Scammed golfers
have shot at par

The former financial backer
of the insolvent Pro Tour Hawaii
faces federal fraud charges

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

For Kevin Carll and many other golfers who played in the short-lived Pro Tour Hawaii in 2001, it was a nice chance to win a little extra money.

Not a lot of events were being held on the mainland because of the winter weather, so the timing was right. And the $100,000 total purse guaranteed per event was fantastic, he said.

So when the tour collapsed after three events with nearly $700,000 in entry fees missing and winners checks bouncing left and right, it irritated many of the players and left some of them without a way to get back home.

"I had basically written off the money -- chalked it up as a learning experience," said Carll, who is now head professional at Ko Olina Golf Club.

Four years later, news of an indictment and the arrest of the tour's financial backer is a welcome surprise, Carll said Friday.

A federal grand jury indicted Greg Wood, 58, of Kihei, on Feb. 17 in a scheme. He was arrested a day later in Kihei. He allegedly defrauded the tour of more than $62,000 by writing checks to himself and depositing into his personal bank account during the first two months of the 10-event tour.

Wood pleaded not guilty to wire fraud in U.S. District Court on Feb. 22 and is being held at the federal detention center while awaiting trial in April.

Federal Public Defender Peter Wolff had argued last week that Wood has been living on Maui for the past few years and is not a flight risk. But U.S. Magistrate Leslie Kobayashi disagreed and ordered him held without bail after finding that there were no conditions she could impose to make sure that he shows up for trial.

If convicted, Wood faces a maximum of 20 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

According to the indictment, unsealed earlier this week, Wood, through Paradise Resort Development Corp., guaranteed $2.1 million in financial support to use as prize money and for operating expenses. But it turned out that Wood and the corporation never came through, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Purpura.

By December 2000, Wood had become chief financial officer for Pro Tour Hawaii and had access to its operational expense account at Bank of Hawaii, the indictment said.

Beginning in January 2001, Wood allegedly wrote himself eight checks from the expense account in amounts ranging from $3,000 to $19,000.

On Jan. 30, Wood allegedly transferred by wire $5,000 from the Pro Tour account to an unnamed individual in California, the basis for the criminal charge.

During the first week of the tour, all prize checks cleared. The second week, some didn't and by the third week, prize checks were bouncing all over.

During a week break before the fourth tournament on Oahu, Carll and about 25 other players were told at a meeting by promoter Sandy Mohr that there was no money left and the remaining seven events were to be canceled.

Gone was the $11,500 entry fee Carll had paid by check. He had won about $3,500 to $4,000 over the first three events, but he never saw any of it. By the time he went to the bank to cash them, there were no funds available.

"It was frustrating," said the 29-year-old Carll. "It took a lot to get to that point to commit myself to playing tour golf -- it was just mentally exhausting."

He had been hoping to use the Pro Tour as a springboard to earn extra money for the rest of the year so he could go to qualifying school for the PGA tour in November.

He had done well enough the previous year at the Assistant Professional Championship in Florida that he was exempt into the second round of qualifying school.

After the tour was suspended, Carll was out of work for two months because he had taken a leave of absence and his employer had hired someone while he was to gone. He had to make do with working part-time jobs here and there, but wasn't hit as hard as other players who had came from as far as New York to play.

Many players were stuck here for weeks because they had committed to play and were hoping to earn some money to make the trip back home, Carll said.

"I know for a lot of us it left a bad taste in our mouths just because when you make that kind of commitment, you sacrifice a lot of things," he said. "There's really just nothing on your mind other than making it on the tour."

Investigators had seized an older model Jaguar as part of their investigation in 2001 around the time the tour was canceled. The car was auctioned off 1 1/2-years later and Carll and each of the 60 to 70 players were awarded a couple of hundred dollars each, he said.

Still, it would be nice if they could get some more of the money that they're owed, he added. There's been talk of starting the tour again in 2006 and using part of the sponsorship money to pay the 2001 players, he said. "It's nice to hear there's a chance of getting some of that money back."