Alabama duffers root for Tide and free golf in BCS Championship game

Nothing says free golf like a University of Alabama beat down of LSU in Monday’s BCS Championship game in New Orleans. In fact, Louisiana Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne is offering just that to Alabama golfers should the Crimson Tide prevail in next week’s finale to the college football bowl season.

"We’re offering 100 prizes, each of which will be good for two free rounds at any of our 12 Audubon Golf Trail courses," Dardenne’s communications director Jacques Berry told us by phone on Thursday.

Dardenne, who filmed commercials that have been running in Alabama, wanted to have some fun with the upcoming title game and promote his state’s championship courses at the same time.

"Our two states have an awful lot in common -- the two best teams in college football and two great golf trails. You’ve got the Robert Trent Jones [Golf] Trail and we’ve got the Audubon Golf Trail," Dardenne said in one ad. "Now of course I think LSU is gonna win on January 9th, but if Alabama wins, I’ve got an offer for you golfers: two free rounds of golf on an Audubon Golf Trail course."

Louisiana boasts 12 courses along its Audubon Golf Trail (Graphic: audubongolftravel.com)

BP, whose massive oil spill fouled the Gulf Coast in April 2010, paid for the promos, according to Berry.

Some restrictions apply, including a cap of 25 free rounds on the trail’s popular TPC Louisiana. The Avondale course, located 15 minutes from downtown New Orleans, stretches over 250 acres of wetlands along the Mississippi River delta and hosts the PGA Tour’s annual Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

The par-72, Pete Dye-designed track earned fourth place among Golf Digest’s best upscale public courses in 2004, the year it opened. Golfweek also ranked TPC Louisiana, which features five sets of tees ranging from 5,121 yards to 7,400 yards at the tips, among its Top 100 public courses in 2011.

TPC Louisiana is just one of the 12 courses on the circuit, named for naturalist and artist John James Audubon, that Louisiana has made a central attraction of its 2012 tourism campaign.

"It has been kind of neglected in years past," Berry said, "but we’re making a big push for it this year."

Dardenne considered making a friendly wager with his counterpart in Alabama, but Berry noted that the lieutenant governor in The Heart of Dixie state does not handle tourism.

Besides, Berry noted, Alabama Lt. Governor Kay Ivey was an Auburn University grad. "There’s a big rivalry between Alabama and Auburn," said Berry, who wondered if Ivey might be secretly cheering for LSU.

Alabamians may enter the "Louisiana: Pick Your Passion" Audubon Golf Trail/LSU vs. Alabama Football Challenge Sweepstakes by midnight Jan. 31, 2012. Each winner, picked at random, will enjoy a round of golf, including cart fees, for two players.