LAFAYETTE — Louisiana’s only professional golf tournament for women, the Louisiana Pelican Classic, got underway Friday morning as 144 women golfers started at 8 a.m. at The Wetlands.

The Pelican Classic, part of the Duramed FUTURES Tour, the developmental tour of the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is in its fourth year as part of the Duramed FUTURES Tour and the golfers are playing for a share of the $90,000 purse and the $12,600 first prize for the winner.

The tournament stretches over three days with the golfers playing today and Saturday before the field will be cut to the top 70 and ties for the final round Sunday.

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The top 10 money winners at the end of the year will automatically receive their 2010 LPGA Tour cards.

Several players with ties to Louisiana will be playing in the tournament this week, including Amanda Mathis from Opelousas, McNeese State University graduate Kate Machado ofTexas, Southern University grad Jozi Ainley from Nakura, Kenya, Tulane graduates Lili Alvarez of Mexico and Alison Walshe of Massachusettes and LSU grads and twin sisters Melissa and Nicola Eaton, who originally hail from South Africa.

Melissa Eaton also has a local connection as she is the girlfriend of 2000 Catholic High graduate Billy Jackson, who will be caddying for her this weekend.

Also teeing it up this week are LPGA members Vicki Goetze-Ackerman, Tracy Henson, Liz Janangelo, Angela Jerman and Su A Kim and Sae Hee Son of South Korea.

One returning champion is in the field, 2007 winner Janell Howland of Idaho.

Tickets to the tournament are $10 per day or $20 for a three-day pass and are available at the front gate of The Wetlands. Children 15 and under are admitted free with a paying adult.