An Arizona company specializing in selling golf vacations has filed suit against Joe Mullins, alleging he provided bogus tickets to the Masters Tournament in 2018 and failed to come through with badges in 2019.
Golf Travel LLC filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Augusta on April 9. The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages of hundreds of thousands of dollars, more than $1.5 million in future earnings and punitive damages.
Golf Travel’s lawsuit is the second to be filed in federal court against Mullins over the sale of Masters practice round tickets and tournament badges. In 2013, Global Events Management filed suit, alleging Mullins was paid $300,000 for tournament badges but didn’t deliver, allegedly costing the company at least $900,000. That suit was settled for undisclosed terms in February 2017.
The Golf Travel lawsuit alleges it arranged to buy 183 practice round tickets and 95 badges for the 2018 tournament. The company claims it paid Mullins a total of $606,150. But 43 of its customers were stopped at the gate for presenting fraudulent badges. The Golf Travel customers were escorted from Augusta National Golf Club. Golf Travel contends it had to pay $200,400 to replace badges and refund an additional $103,032.
The following year, before Golf Travel contends it learned what really happened in 2018, it paid Mullins $840,900 for practice tickets and tournament badges. The company alleges Mullins didn’t deliver on the tickets and badges and later failed to refund money paid in advance.
The only authorized seller of Masters tickets and badges is Augusta National. For the 2022 tournament, applications can be submitted June 1-21, according to an earlier report in The Augusta Chronicle.