A hole-in-one golf tournament winner was refused a new Ford F-150 SuperCrew 4×4 pickup advertised as the winning prize. He is now suing an Arkansas country club and a local Ford dealership. The suit alleges the two defendants refused to transfer the title to golfer Austin Clagett. The value of the Ford truck is $55,595.

Who advertised the Ford F-150 truck as a prize?

The Morrilton Country Club in Arkansas hosted a “Tournament of the Century” golf tournament. According to the club’s Facebook page, Jay Hodge Ford in Morrilton sponsored the event to happen on October 8, 2022. It advertised that a 2022 F-150 was the prize for the first player to get a hole-in-one at Hole 10 would win the truck. 

Clagett saw a red F-150 truck placed at the Hole 10 tee box. Clagett paid the fee to sign up for the Tournament of the Century. During play, when he got to Hole 10, he did get a hole-in-one on the first try. The suit says that “Afterwards, Morrilton Country Club and Jay Hodge Ford refused to give Clagett the keys or transfer the title 2022 F-150 Supercrew. 

Clagett’s attorney talked with the Log Cabin Democrat newspaper after the filing. He thinks what happened was that the Ford dealer and/or the country club didn’t get prize insurance for the truck. It is known as “prize indemnification insurance.” This type of insurance allows those marketing expensive prizes coverage costing far less than the price of the prize. 

The F-150 was the prize, shouldn’t the winner get it?

But as the lawyer says, “He did his part,” referring to Clagett. “He paid the entry fee, played in the tournament, and hit a hole-in-one in the correct hole. I don’t know who dropped the ball, but I know my client is due a truck.”

But now there are conflicting responses to the giveaway from the country club and dealership. Country club General Manager Justin Nowlin says it had almost nothing to do with the promotion or who gets the truck. “All we did was give the dealership a piece of the golf course for advertisement,” Nowlin told the Democrat. “We couldn’t give him the truck because we don’t own it.”

The dealer and country club point fingers at each other

For its part, the Ford dealership in a statement says it only provided the truck as a display. “While management at the golf course desired for our dealership to provide the truck as a prize for a hole-in-one on the course during the event, we were unable to fulfill this request due to the lead time required to provide insurance for a Hole-In-One Vehicle. 

“This was clearly communicated to Morrilton Country Club management, and the club agreed that the dealership would provide a new truck for display/advertising purposes only. Without our knowledge, Morrilton Country Club promoted that this new truck would be available as a winning prize at the event despite our agreement that it would be for display purposes only.”

With both entities pointing fingers at each other, it appears that Clagett had little recourse but to sue. As they say, “Let the courts figure it out.”