A golfer is suing an Arkansas Ford dealership that he said owes him a free F-150 for making a hole-in-one.
Austin Clagett posed for photos holding his ball in front of the $53,595 pickup after his hole-in-one shot Oct. 8 at Morrilton Country Club.
But Jay Hodge Ford of Morrilton said it had never agreed to give the truck away in the “Tournament of a Century” event. The country club had specifically advertised it as a prize in Facebook posts tagging the dealership.
“Hole-in-one on #10 gets you the keys to this F-150,” the club wrote with a photo of a F-150 4×4 SuperCrew. “Thanks to Jay Hodge Ford of Morrilton!”
The dealership, which was known as Magie Ford until a change of ownership in August, said on its Facebook page that it provided the truck “for display/advertising purposes only” because it didn’t have enough lead time to obtain insurance for a giveaway. “Without our knowledge,” the store wrote, “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.”
However, screenshots show that the dealership’s Facebook account liked the country club’s posts promoting the F-150 giveaway, then removed the likes after the dispute arose, according to Clagett’s lawyer, Andrew Norwood of the firm Denton & Zachary. The club later deleted the posts.
“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,” Norwood, who is suing both businesses, said in a statement.
Autoblog reported that Norwood provided video of a club employee calling Jay Hodge Ford after Clagett’s hole-in-one. “Oh, don’t tell me,” a dealership worker said, and the club employee responded, “Unfortunately, it happened.”