LOUISIANA La. — It’s the highlight of the season for Louisiana's golf team.

And if you ask some of the visiting players and coaches, it also ranks high on their list of favorite trips and tournaments.

For the 19th straight year, the Ragin' Cajuns will host some of the nation’s top collegiate golf teams today and Tuesday at Oakbourne Country Club for the annual Louisiana Classics Tournament.

“It’s one of the weeks we always look forward to,” said Louisiana coach Bob Bass. “A lot of the teams come back here every year, and they’ve developed real friendships with a lot of our hosts. They really look forward to coming here.”

This year’s field includes two-time defending tournament champion Southern Methodist, Arkansas State, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana State, Missouri, North Texas, Rice, Tennessee, Texas A&M, UT-San Antonio, Texas State, Texas Tech, and Tulsa.

Twelve of the 15 teams are returnees from last year’s field, and only one team — Arkansas State, a Cajun rival in the Sun Belt Conference — is a first-time participant.

“Just about everybody wants to come back every year,” Bass said. “I’d like to invite more people, but we can’t handle any more teams. I’ve got a waiting list of schools that want to get in.”

SMU won last year’s crown by a three-stroke margin over Tulsa with a three-round score of 858, six under par. That tally was helped by two days of good weather and mild winds — a rarity for this event — and was the lowest score in tournament history for events that included the full three rounds.

It’ll also be tough for anyone to match this year, since the 15 squads will be tackling a 7,100-yard, par-72 Oakbourne course that was toughened up last year in a renovation of several holes.

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com