Cajun Classic Open Invitational

Cajun Classic Open Invitational
Tournament information
LocationLafayette, Louisiana
Established1958
Course(s)Oakbourne Country Club
Par72
Length6,555 yards (5,994 m)[1]
Tour(s)PGA Tour
FormatStroke play
Prize fundUS$25,000
Month playedNovember
Final year1968
Tournament record score
Aggregate270 Doug Sanders (1961)
270 John Barnum (1962)
270 Ron Cerrudo (1968)
To par−18 Ron Cerrudo (1968)
Final champion
United States Ron Cerrudo
Location map
Oakbourne CC is located in the United States
Oakbourne CC
Oakbourne CC
Location in the United States
Oakbourne CC is located in Louisiana
Oakbourne CC
Oakbourne CC
Location in Louisiana

The Cajun Classic Open Invitational was a golf tournament in Louisiana on the PGA Tour in the late 1950s and 1960s, played at the Oakbourne Country Club in Lafayette, usually in late November.[2] It debuted as the Lafayette Open Invitational in 1958,[3] and in many years was the last tournament on the PGA Tour schedule, which attracted players fighting for position on the money list.

John Barnum, the only man in the history of the PGA Tour to earn his first win after age 50, won this event in 1962 at age 51.[4][5] Barnum was also the first player to win on Tour using a Ping putter.[6]

The 1963 tournament began on Thursday, November 21, but during the second round the following day, news of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy swept the course. Saturday's play was postponed in deference to the news, with the tournament finishing on Sunday with the final two rounds being played.

It lost the last tournament slot on the 1969 schedule and the resulting smaller field caused monetary problems that resulted in the tournament folding.

  1. ^ "Cajun Classic". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. November 25, 1968. p. 3C.
  2. ^ "Oakbourne Country Club to Host LGA State Amateur" (Press release). Archived from the original on September 30, 2006. Retrieved December 19, 2007.
  3. ^ "Jay Hebert wins pro tournament". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. April 28, 1958. p. 3B.
  4. ^ "Barnum takes Cajun Classic". Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). UPI. November 12, 1962. p. 9.
  5. ^ "Oldest PGA Tour Winners". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2007.
  6. ^ Dear, Tony. "Keeping it in the Family". Archived from the original on November 1, 2004. Retrieved December 19, 2007.