PGA Tour and Ryder Cup star Tony Finau sued for more than £12.5MILLION by businessman who ‘bankrolled early career’
PGA TOUR and Ryder Cup star Tony Finau is being sued for more than £12.5million by a businessman who claims he funded the early part of his career.
Molonai Hola, 55, of Utah, US, alleges he paid Finau and his family's expenses for several years but never got the money back as promised.
Finau, 31, ranked 14th in the world with one PGA Tour win, has won more than £15.5m on the lucrative US circuit and has a sponsorship deal with Nike.
The lawsuit claims Hola, who became friendly with the Finau family in 1997, funded Tony - who played in the 2018 Ryder Cup - and his brother Gipper's expenses as they sought a future in the game.
Both had promising junior careers and turned pro in 2007 while still teenagers.
The Finaus relocated to Florida so Tony - who earlier this year claimed he had been a victim of police brutality - and Gipper could have lessons from famed instructor David Leadbetter.
It is alleged that massive figure amounts to roughly 20 per cent of the two golfers' careers earnings to date.
Hola claims he was promised 20 per cent of the Finaus' future professional earnings.
Married dad-of-four Tony, who is of Tongan and Samoan descent and whose first sport was fire-knife dancing, recently bagged just over £235,000 for finishing tied-eighth in the US Open.
Last season he pocketed just shy of £2.3m despite coronavirus cutting short the season.
Gipper never made it on to the PGA Tour and his earnings are nowhere near the level of his brother's.