Golf: Don’™t miss the UL Homecoming Big Bass Open + Chicken Open This Sunday, Monday

Dan McDonald, The Advertiser, Nov. 8, 2017

If you’re a golfer and a Ragin’ Cajun fan, the Bill Bass Open needs you.

The annual Homecoming tournament, which benefits the UL golf team, is just over one week away on Nov. 17 at Les Vieux Chenes. The tournament is always held on the Friday of Homecoming week, and this year comes one day before the Cajun football team meets New Mexico State for Homecoming on Nov. 18.

Like most other area tournaments, all of which have been hit by the economic downturn in the Acadiana area, the Bill Bass Open’s entries are down from previous years. That’s not good for anyone, most of all the Cajun golf team that receives all proceeds once expenses are paid off.

“We have several events during the year that help us raise funds,” said Cajun coach Theo Sliman, “and the Bill Bass is one that we count on. But it’s important to us for a lot of other reasons … it’s a tradition, it’s a chance to spend time with some of our supporters, and it honors a man and a family that has made Cajun golf what it is today.”

The four-person scramble is one of the major events of Homecoming week and normally draws a good crowd to Les Vieux Chenes for a Friday of golf and socializing. This year, that fun will all be in the afternoon, since the tournament is reduced to one single flight. Since Homecoming falls late in the calendar and after the switch from Daylight Saving Time, the normal morning-afternoon divisions will be combined to one noon shotgun start.

Registration and lunch — including those world-famous “Cookie” burgers — begin at 10:30 a.m.

The tournament is open to all golfers and not just Ragin’ Cajun fans, and players may assemble their own four-person team or may enter as individuals to be placed onto teams. A handicap index will be used to ensure all teams and players will have equal opportunity to win the prizes that will go to the top three teams.

Prizes will also be awarded for closest to the hole on two par-threes and a long-drive on the 18th hole, and a putting contest will also include a Cajun-themed prize. Drinks and snacks will be available on the course, and each player will receive a full packet of tournament gifts including a windbreaker, a Homecoming T-shirt, balls, tees and a souvenir poker-chip ball marker.

The Cajun team is also heavily involved. All of the squad members will be on hand and will be hitting shots with each team either on par-threes or par-fives, giving each team that extra advantage on those holes.

The tournament honors the late Bill Bass, whose contributions to Acadiana-area golf and to the university are well documented. Bass left the insurance business in 1965 to serve as the school’s first full-time alumni director, and the former letterman in football and boxing also served two different stints in two different decades as Cajun golf coach.

Bass also helped supervise the construction of the Oakbourne Country Club course in the mid-1950s and helped develop that into one of the state’s top layouts — one that hosted a PGA Tour event for nearly a decade and where the newly -constructed UL golf facility is located. Bass also designed and was one of the driving forces behind Acadian Hills Golf Club.

He remained involved in university activities and the local golf scene up until his passing in 1987. Shortly after that, the Alumni Association began a scholarship in his honor and teamed with his son Bob Bass — himself UL’s golf coach for nearly two decades and honored as the top coach in the Sun Belt Conference’s first 30 years — to found the Homecoming tournament that still bears his name.

“We always talk to our players about how important family and tradition are,” said Sliman. “This is a perfect example of that.”

Entries for the tournament remain open, with an entry fee of $150 per player or $600 per four-player team. RCAF members get a $25 discount from those entry fees. An online entry form is available at ragincajuns.com/BillBassOpen, or entries may be emailed to danmcdonald@cox.net or phoned in to (337) 857-8754. Handicaps and shirt sizes should be included with all entries.

‘Chicken’ Tournament

Speaking of the Cajuns, the rescheduled second annual Jimmy “Chicken” Thomas Classic is set for this Sunday-Monday at Oakbourne. The tournament and surrounding events were washed out by Hurricane Harvey in August.

The event raises funds for the UL golf team and is one of the major events staged by the Vermilion Links Club, the official support group for Cajun golf. The tournament includes a “meet and greet” with the team at 6 p.m. Sunday at Oakbourne, and the two-man scramble has a 1 p.m. shotgun start Monday.

The tournament and accompanying events are open to any golfer who wants to get involved with the UL program and/or the Vermilion Links. Entry for the tournament is complimentary for Links founding members, and spots are also available with a $200 per-player or a $400 per-team entry fee.

More information is available from David Church at 280-2961 or dchurch@dartenergyservices.com, or from UL coach Theo Sliman at 962-3348 or tsliman@louisiana.edu. Players who had previously entered before the rainout are asked to contact Church to reconfirm their entries for the new date.

Teeing for the Troops

And speaking of Oakbourne, that club will provide an opportunity for players to “Tee It Up for the Troops” Saturday when the club has a member-guest event beginning at 8 a.m.

Oakbourne is the only course in Louisiana taking part in the national “Tee It Up for the Troops” program, held each year on the Veteran’s Day weekend. The program honors military men and women who have served and sacrificed for their country and combines golf events with inspirational ceremonies, one which will be held just prior to Saturday’s 8 a.m. shotgun start with a flag-raising at the club.

Since the organization’s founding in 2005, more than 360 such events have been held in more than 40 states. All proceeds go to local and national charities that help wounded veterans and their families. Fisher House Foundation and Disabled Sports USA are primary recipients, and have joined with “Tee It Up” to assist more than 27,000 military families and help save more than $44 million in living costs, and provided more than 10,000 wounded service members with year-round programs in more than 30 different sports, all free of charge.

Oakbourne general manager Greg Klemp has been the driving force behind the local event, and individuals and businesses looking to take part or provide support may contact him at (985) 373-2302 or call the club at (337) 235-6426, or e-mail greg@oakbournecc.com. Direct donations to the program may be made online at TeeItUpfortheTroops.org.

Liberty Mutual Golf

The Metairie-based team of Marc Eagan, Mike Guarisco, Brian LeBon and Larry LeBon posted an 11-under-par 61 to take top honors last Monday at the 22nd annual Lafayette Liberty Mutual Insurance Invitational benefiting the National Kidney Foundation of Louisiana.

The tournament was held at Oakbourne and was part of a series of 75 charity tournaments around the country hosted by Liberty Mutual and local charity organizations. Those tournaments raised more than $8.3 million for charity last year and $45 million over the past seven years. The Louisiana events benefit the National Kidney Foundation of Louisiana and help raise over $250,000 annually. The local event raised over $50,000.

The winning team qualified to take part in the national finals, scheduled for Kiawah Island Golf Resort next March.

USSSA Junior Tour

The USSSA Junior Tour will stage its next event Nov. 25-26, with the annual Gobbler Tournament at Southern Trace in Shreveport.

The event features boys’ and girls’ play in three age groups, with boys and girls age 12-14 and 15-18 divisions playing 18 holes daily and boys and girls 9-11 playing nine holes per day. Deadline to enter is Nov. 22, and more information is available from Robert Boudreaux at (337) 278-8431 or at robert.boudreaux@usssa.com.

Vieux Chenes Seniors

The heavy rains that struck Acadiana last Wednesday forced postponement of the Vieux Chenes Senior Men’s Golf Association’s monthly event set for last Thursday. That tournament will now be held this Thursday at Les Vieux Chenes.

The group will also hold events on Nov. 16 and Dec. 7, so as not to conflict with the Thanksgiving holidays. Registration each week is from 7-7:30 a.m. with play beginning at 8 a.m. The group is open to all senior players, and information on the group is available at Les Vieux Chenes or by calling 837-1159.

Aces

Kyle Broussard of Carencro used a pitching wedge and a Callaway “SuperSoft” ball to hole out on the 130-yard second hole at Hebert Municipal on Saturday. The 35-year-old Broussard, a zero-handicapper, had his first career ace while in a group with Thomas Brown, Damon Lacombe, Carroll Robicheaux and Ryan Hornsby.

Friend of the “Making the Turn” column Chuck Wood also had a successful Saturday, holing out for the sixth time in his golfing career on the 167-yard 16th hole at Le Triomphe. It was the second time that Wood had aced that hole, and four of his six lifetime holes-in-one have come on the LT course.

“Making the Turn” appears each Wednesday from February-November in the Daily Advertiser. Clubs, courses and individuals with information about local golf events may email Dan McDonald, editorial director at Golfballs.com, at danmcdonald@cox.net, FAX to (337) 857-8763 or call (337) 857-8754 and leave a message with phone number.