Golfer Sues Ford Dealer, Country Club After Backing Out of F-150 Prize

A golfer who hit a hole-in-one at a charity event thought he won a brand new Ford F-150, but there was just one problem. The Arkansas-based dealership that was supposed to supply the $53,595 truck says it never agreed to the deal. Now, a lawsuit.

“Hole-in-one on #10 gets you the keys to this F-150. Thanks to Jay Hodge Ford of Morrilton!” the country club wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post, according to The Kansas City Star.

A hole-in-one is exceedingly rare in golf, but that didn’t stop Austin Clagett – who paid the $375 entry fee – from achieving the feat at the “Tournament of the Century” by getting a hole-in-one on the 10th hole during the tournament. He was, as you could imagine, very excited at the prospect of getting this new truck.

This is where things get sticky. Jay Hodge Ford wrote on its Facebook page that it provided the F-150 “for display/advertising purposes only.”

“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.”

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The post went on to say that Morrilton Country Club promoted the truck as a winning prize without Jay Hodge Ford’s knowledge.

Ah well, all said and done. It’s the Country Club’s fault, right? Wrong (maybe)! This is where things get juicy. Automotive News reports that screenshots show that the dealership’s Facebook account “liked” the county club’s posts that were promoting the F-150 prize. However, they “unliked” the post after this whole kerfuffle started, according to Clagett’s lawyer.

“This is about doing what is right. Mr. Clagett lived up to his end of the deal when he got the hole-in-one and now Morrilton Country Club and Jay Hodge Ford of Morrilton want to crawfish out of the deal,” Clagett’s lawyer, who is suing both businesses, said in a statement.

The Star reports that Andrew Norwood of Denton & Zachary, PLCC, Clagett’s lawyers, says “it is now clear” that neither the country club nor the dealership want to give Clagett the truck he technically won. They are both being accused of breaching their contract by not transferring the title to Clagett.

The lawsuit says “injustice can only be avoided” if Clagett gets his new truck. No one in this story seems particularly likable and I love it.