Prize money in the world's biggest fishing tournament, this month in Pittsburgh, will not be attached to pay creditors in the bankruptcy of the tournament's parent company.

Yesterday in Minnesota, a bankruptcy court ruled that prize money that Ranger Boats intends to pay to the winner of the 2009 Forrest Wood Cup could not be redirected to Textron Financial Corp., a creditor in the bankruptcy of Genmar Holdings Inc, the Minnesota-based company that owns Ranger Boats and tournament organizer FLW Outdoors.

Jeff McCoy, director of public relations for FLW Outdoors, said the court's ruling protected Ranger's contribution to tournament prize money.

"Ranger has been a longtime partner of FLW Outdoors and we anticipate it will be involved in FLW Outdoors in the future," he said.

Genmar, led by Minnesota businessman Irwin Jacobs, filed in June for Chapter 11 protection from creditors under federal bankruptcy laws. Last month, Jacobs told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the weak economy had hurt sales of products manufactured by Genmar-held companies, including Ranger fishing boats, runabouts and luxury yachts.

The winner of the Forrest Wood Cup is guaranteed a $500,000 cash prize from FLW Outdoors. Ranger pays an additional $500,000 cash bonus, the Ranger Cup, if the winner fishes from a Ranger boat that meets contest regulations. Textron had petitioned the court to prevent Ranger from paying out monies, including the bonus, claiming that it would drain resources from a Genmar-owned company while Genmar owed millions.

The Star Tribune reported the company's Chapter 11 petition listed Genmar assets of $237.5 million and liabilities of $216.5 million. Jacobs told the paper the bankruptcy petition does not include more than $400 million in intangible assets, whose values were determined recently by Wells Fargo & Co., the company's lead banker. Wells Fargo and Fifth Third Bank, the only secured creditors, are owed $75 million.

Jacobs is the largest shareholder in privately held Genmar. The Star Tribune reported that Genmar is one of several firms controlled by Jacobs that operate independently of each other. The other companies, including FLW Outdoors, are not included in the bankruptcy filing.