A simmering financial scandal in the golfing world has reached its legal climax. The High Court of London has ruled that Kevin Harold Woolgar, a former consultant to Lynx Golf Ltd., engaged in fraud, deceit, and a breach of fiduciary duty, reaping over $2 million in secret commissions from equipment transactions spanning more than a decade.
The Tuesday ruling determined that Woolgar must pay compensation and damages—still to be finalized—for siphoning nearly $2.2 million from sales involving golf gear sourced from East Asia, all while operating under a veil of trust and professional responsibility.
From Intermediary to Impostor: The Secret Commission Scheme
The case centers around Woolgar’s role as a go-between for Lynx Golf, operated under the Charles Claire LLP brand by Stephanie Zinser and Stephen Elford. Beginning in 2011, Woolgar worked as an intermediary to import golf products from factories in China and South Korea, facilitating shipments worth roughly $8.6 million over 11 years.
But beneath the surface, according to court findings, he was secretly collecting undisclosed commissions ranging from 5% to a shocking 75% of factory prices.
“There can be no room for doubt that Mr. Woolgar accepted the funds…to pay the factories,” wrote Judge Charles Morrison, who found Woolgar’s explanations “implausible and inconsistent.”
