The University of Louisiana's golf team will add a highlight to its 2005-06 schedule as a wrapup to the fall season, and the Ragin' Cajuns are hoping that local players will accompany them to the "Battle On the Bend."

The UL squad and head coach Bob Bass will serve as hosts for the inaugural event, to be held at the stunning Cypress Bend Golf Resort on Toledo Bend near Many.

"It's just a beautiful place," said Bass, who will enter his 16th season as the Cajun mentor when UL opens its fall season in September. "In the fall, it's going to be absolutely super. Most of these schools will be ending their fall schedule there, and it's going to be a great way to wrap it up."

The tournament is scheduled Monday-Wednesday, Nov. 7-9, following a practice round and a "College-Am" event on Sunday, Nov. 6. And it will be a true "battle" with a format unique to college golf.

The field includes 12 teams, with six from Louisiana and six from Texas. The players will compete for team and individual honors as in other college events, but they'll also combine their team scores to determine a winner in a Louisiana-Texas challenge. Hence, the "Battle On the Bend."

Taking part in the tournament, held on a course that has 10 holes running lakeside on the boundary that separates the two states, are New Orleans, Nicholls State, McNeese State, Southeastern La., Centenary and the host Cajuns from Louisiana, and Rice, Houston, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas State and Texas-Pan American from Texas.

Bass said the event evolved in an amazingly short time, and wasn't even an afterthought when he and wife Linda took a weekend getaway trip to the resort this spring.

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Dan McDonald
Local Golf