Man Sues Country Club After Being Denied F-150 Prize Promised in Hole-In-One Challenge

Getting a hole-in-one on any golf course is an achievement in itself. But landing yourself a free Ford F-150 as a result of your efforts makes it all worthwhile. At least that’s what Austin Clagett of Arkansas thought.

During “The Tournament of the Century” at the Morrilton Country Club in Morrilton, Arkansas, the top prize was a 2022 Ford F-150 4×4 Supercrew with an estimated value of $53,595. In a report by Kansas City News, It was advertised on the country club’s social media leading up to the tournament with the caption, “Hole-in-one on #10 gets you the keys to this F-150. Thanks to Jay Hodge Ford of Morrilton.”

When Austin Clagett completed the challenge, landing a hole-in-one on the 10th hole during the tournament, he was under the impression that he was going to be receiving the keys to the truck. That was until both the country club and the dealership refused to award him the F-150. Now Clagett has filed a lawsuit against both establishments.

According to Clagett’s attorney, he paid the tournament’s $375 entry fee for his team. “This is about doing what is right,” says Andrew Norwood of Denton & Zachary, PLLC. “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. If they didn’t want to pay up when Mr. Clagett got a hole-in-one, they shouldn’t have offered the deal.”

Meanwhile, the country club said in a Facebook post that the truck was already given away by the Ford dealership.

As if this story continues to spiral out even more, the dealership said in a statement on its own Facebook page that the truck at the golf course was meant to be for display only, and that the country club promised the F-150 as a prize without their consent. “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,” Jay Hodge Ford of Morrilton said. “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.”

Clagett’s attorney is accusing both the country club and the Ford dealership of breach of contract. “Injustice can only be avoided” if the F-150’s title is transferred to Clagett.