AUBURN - Since taking office as president of the Auburn Bowling Association Dennis O'Donnell has made every effort to bring new opportunities to bowlers in the association all season.

This year, O'Donnell helped initiate new leagues such as sport bowling; all in an effort to help the sport keep growing in Auburn and the surrounding area.

With spring comes the end of bowling season and the start of golf - a crossover many local bowlers look forward to.

“A lot of people do both,” O'Donnell said. “Bowling is a winter sport and golf is a summer sport, so it keeps people active all year really with something to do all year round. That is the main goal, just to give everybody something fun to do.”

This inspired O'Donnell to try to revive a hybrid golf/bowling tournament.

O'Donnell said that up until 10 to 15 years ago there used to be an annual 700 club bowling/golf tournament, but this gradually fell to the wayside until now.

“A lot of people were interested,” O'Donnell said. “There are a lot of people that bowl and golf, so since the interest was there I thought it was something we should try to get together this year and see how it goes.”

When it was a 700 club tournament, O'Donnell said it used to be split with one member of the team bowling and one golfing, but with this tournament it will be a combined effort.

The tournament, to be held May 19-20, will be a two-person best ball tournament at Cedar House Lanes on Saturday followed by a two-person scramble at Lakeview Golf Course on Sunday.

“We decided to make it a combination event,” O'Donnell said. “It isn't a sanctioned bowling tournament because it is best ball. So this gets everybody involved all weekend.”

So far response has been good.

“We have 41 teams,” O'Donnell said. “That's 82 people, so for being the first year, the response has been really good.”

The tournament will be broken into three divisions: men's, women's and mixed teams. O'Donnell hopes to see the women's and mixed divisions grow a little more before the tournament kicks off.

“We have two women's teams and three mixed right now,” O'Donnell said. “We'd love to see more of those teams sign up for this.”

Across the board, O'Donnell is hoping to see more teams register this week.

“We can take up to 120 people,” O'Donnell said. “So we are still looking to get more teams involved in this. So there is still time to register, but we'll still be taking sign-ups on the morning of the tournament, too.”

Cost for the tournament for each two-person team is $150; this covers all expenses for bowling and golf as well as dinner and an awards ceremony following the tournament.