Golf: Chip Shots – Whole Lot of Ragin’ Cajuns Golf Going On – Please join in & support our teams

Lafayette Daily Advertiser, Dan McDonald, Sept. 23, 2020

Chip Shots

COME OUT AND HELP OUT: Acadiana-area golfers have the chance Saturday to improve their game and help out their neighbors to the west.

A clinic hosted by long-time PGA Tour caddie and Lafayette native Ted Scott, golf instructor and minister Daniel Kelly, and The Wetlands head PGA professional David Gary is scheduled for 3 p.m. at The Wetlands’ driving range and practice area, meaning that golfers can attend UL’s home-opener football game against Georgia Southern at 11 a.m. and come to the clinic following the game.

Funds raised from the clinic will go directly to assisting those in the Lake Charles and southwest Louisiana areas that were devastated by Hurricane Laura in early September.

“It’s a way that we can help,” Gary said. “Being the man that he is, Ted came to me and wanted to do something to raise money for those that have been hit hard.”

Scott, of course, is best known as caddie for two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson on the PGA Tour, and as one of the most popular figures in that professional golf circle. But he’s also a standout golfer himself, having played on mini-tour circuits before a weekend caddying stint at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open turned into a full-time profession.

Before moving into golf, Scott was a world-champion foosball player, and emphasizes the hand-eye coordination he developed there in his golf game and in his educational clinics.

Kelly, a former collegiate player at Hinds Community College and Belhaven who has more than 30 career amateur wins across Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, is the pastor of The Harvest Center Church in Lafayette where he operates a golf program aimed at inner-city youth. He has staged instructional and motivational clinics annually across the South.

Gary, one of Acadiana’s best-known golf instructors, has been head professional at The Wetlands since the Audubon Golf Trail-honored course opened in Lafayette in 2006. He has been a member of the PGA since 1992 and has been honored by the PGA’s Gulf States section for his teaching efforts in seminars and video instruction.

Fee for the clinic is $20, and any other contributions are welcome. Participants may call The Wetlands at (337) 291-7151 for information or to register. Players do not have to pre-register and may register as a walk-up, but Gary said pre-registration will help organizers better plan for the event.

BILL BASS OPEN: The Bill Bass Open, UL’s annual Homecoming golf event that raises funds for the Cajun golf team, will return during October’s Homecoming activities despite the pandemic issues.

The event is set for Oct. 16 at its regular Les Vieux Chenes home, and organizers are stressing that the event is even more important to the UL program this year given financial hardships brought about by the virus and its long-range economic impact. The UL golf team’s budget has been severely impacted due to the slowdown.

The tournament, which dates back two decades, will again be a four-person scramble and will include the opportunity to meet all members of the UL golf team who will be stationed at selected holes on the course.

Virus protocols that include one rider per cart will limit this year’s field to 18 teams and 72 players, so those who have participated in the past or wish to play this year should enter as soon as possible since no entries will be accepted after 72 paid entries are received. Entry fee remains at $125 for RCAF members and $150 for others, which includes lunch, drinks on the course, range balls, tee gifts and door prizes. Entries and more information are available by calling (337) 857-8754 or e-mailing danmcdonald@cox.net.

ASSIST TOURNEY DELAYED: UL’s women’s basketball had to postpone its scheduled Monday Assist Club Open fund-raiser tournament because of bad weather. But the event already has a new date, and will be held Nov. 9 at Le Triomphe.

Players who had registered for the Monday event may roll over their entry by calling tournament organizers, and registration for other players is still available. The four-person scramble has a $700 per-team entry fee that includes cart and fees, range balls, beverages, Adidas golf apparel and other prizes. Sponsorships from $100 to $4,000 are also available with all proceeds going to the Cajun women’s hoop squad.

Information and entries are available from Assist Club president Jenifer Dendy at (337) 280-2275, director of basketball operations Mary Chris Vogt at (337) 249-5345 or Cajun coach Garry Brodhead at (337) 540-3573.

BASEBALL GOLF: UL’s baseball squad holds its fund-raiser tournament Oct. 5 at Oakbourne, and entries are still being accepted for the four-person scramble tournament.

Registration and lunch begin at noon with a 1 p.m. shotgun start, with prizes to the top three teams and closest to the hole on all par-threes. Entry fee is $1,000 pr four-man team or $250 for an individual, with $100 hole sponsorships and $325 for a playing spot and a hole sponsorship available. All include fees, a Ragin’ Cajun hat and shirt, Adidas branded apparel and food and beverages.

Entry deadline is Sept. 30 for the event sponsored by Home Bank and Russo Exploration and hosted by the Chitimacha Louisiana Open. Entries and information are available from Danny Jones at 593-8000 or djones@laopen.com.

AND HOOPS GOLF: UL’s men’s basketball program will hold its annual Tip-Off Classic golf tournament Oct. 23 at The Wetlands, with many members of the Cajun coaching staff taking part in the event.

The four-person scramble event has a $125 individual or $500 team entry fee that includes gift bag and food and beverage, and sponsorship opportunities from $200 for a hole sponsorship up to a $1,500 Rebounders Team are available. The Rebounders Team sponsorship includes an “All-American” gift package from the Rebounders Club and a social at Cajun coach Bob Marlin’s house.

Entry forms and more information are available at the UL basketball office, by e-mail at MER0761@louisiana.edu, or by calling (337) 262-3865.

CAJUNS BACK IN ACTION: UL’s golf team will look to improve on its ninth-place finish at last week’s Jim Rivers Intercollegiate at Squire Creek early next week, when the Cajuns take part in the Graeme McDowell Invitational in Birmingham, Alabama, hosted by UAB next Tuesday-Wednesday.

If nothing else, UL will hope to be back at full strength. Four members of the squad were in quarantine and could not play in the fall opener, leaving coach Theo Sliman’s team one man short with only five available players for the six-player, four-counting-score event.

Junior Peter Hinnant will be going for his second straight high finish, after he shot a final-round three-under 69 and finished the three-round event at three-under 73-71-69—213 to tie for fifth in the 73-player field.

“Making the Turn” appears each week in the Daily Advertiser through November. 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.