Part of the Francophone world comes to Acadiana this month, and a large group of local golfers will get the rare opportunity to compete for their country when the Acadiana Cup matches are staged across South Louisiana.
Part of the Francophone world comes to Acadiana this month, and a large group of local golfers will get the rare opportunity to compete for their country when the Acadiana Cup matches are staged across South Louisiana.
A group of 68 area golfers, both men and women, will play a series of Ryder Cup-style matches against 68 players representing Poitiers, France, Namur, Belgium, and Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada in the 16th renewal of the annual golf and cultural exchange program.
The competition rotates to sites with French backgrounds and comes to South Louisiana every four years. Competition dates are Oct. 9-12, with the Tuesday, Oct. 9, round at the TPC Louisiana course in New Orleans, the Thursday, Oct. 11, round at Gray Plantation in Lake Charles and the final round on Friday, Oct. 12, here at The Wetlands.
The international group, which includes two dozen non-golfers along with the playing group, will headquarter at the Lafayette Hilton. Most will remain in town to participate in Festivals Acadiens et Creoles following the golf competition.
In all, 92 foreign visitors and 119 locals are involved in the event, taking part in a series of social, cultural-exchange and tourism events when not on the golf course. It is a friendly competition, but as chairman of the Acadiana Cup and "Team Acadiana" captain Buddy Guillory says, "We want our visitors to enjoy themselves, but we expect to win."
The matches include best-ball at TPC Louisiana, two-person scramble at Gray Plantation and a total of 68 singles matches on the final day at The Wetlands. Just like in the Ryder Cup, all pairings are match-play with one point given for each win and a half-point for a tied match. A total of 136 points are available over the three days of competition, and the team winning the most points takes possession of the Acadiana Cup for the following year. All matches, including the Oct. 12 final round at The Wetlands, are open to the public.