Linda Chen is suing the organizers of a charity golf tournament near Orlando, Florida, after she was denied a prize she believed she had earned by sinking a hole-in-one. The prize was a Mercedes E-Class worth an estimated $90,000.
Chen entered the charity tournament, which took place at the Isleworth Golf & Country Club, in May. Her round was going fine, until the 11th hole par 3, where she hit a beautiful tee shot, which landed in the hole. By her understanding, she had done everything she needed to win the E-Class listed as a prize by the tournament’s organizers.
However, when she went to collect her prize after the round, she found that Timothy Galvin, the owner of Tournament Golf Event, the company that was helping to organize the competition, was unsure if she could take it.
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At question was Chen’s golfing background. Although she is now officially listed as an amateur, Fox reports that between 1994 and 1996, she was a pro golfer, something that Galvin claims she had not disclosed before entering the tournament. In fact, he claims that she signed an affidavit saying that she had never golfed professionally.
“There were other professional golfers in the event who informed the tournament of their status,” said Galvin. “That’s all Ms. Chen had to do ahead of time and this could have prevented how things are going.”
In her complaint, Chen argues that she has been listed as an amateur by the U.S. Golf Association for more than 15 years. She is therefore seeking either her Mercedes E-Class or the car’s value of $90,000 from the defendants listed in her suit, among them Tournament Golf Event, ACE Hole In One, and Mercedes of South Orlando, which advertised the prize.
Galvin claims that he and ACE Hole In One have handed out prizes to multiple eligible participants in the past, and that the “court will reveal who is eligible, who is culpable, and eventually who is responsible for the outcome.”
