By Justin Pelletier,Staff Writer

A bad day at a golf course is still a good day.

Among football players, the same could be said about being on a field with goal posts rising from the turf at each end. Add in an amazing charity event to link the two, and Lobster Bowl organizers are banking on a synergy between the two sports.

For the first time since the event started 17 years ago, the Lobster Bowl will feature a golf tournament.

“The whole idea is to make sure the event doesn’t become stagnant,” said Lewiston High School Athletic Director Jason Fuller, who played in the game following his senior year at Lewiston High School. “The whole idea is to get as many people as possible to actually see what the shrine is all about.”

Lobster Bowl participants, graduated seniors from high schools across Maine, are selected to play in the annual game based on ability, academics and service. For years, it has been one of the Kora Shrine’s biggest fundraising events, with all proceeds going directly to benefit the Shriner’s Hospitals for Children.

“The whole thing is such a great experience for all of the players involved,” said former Lobster Bowl participant Pryce Gendron of Auburn. “To go to Biddeford to play the game, and to be able to make the trip to the hospital in Boston and see who you are helping out, it’s just a great way for a lot of us to finish up our football careers.”

Gendron played in the 1999 Lobster Bowl. His parents, Georges and Gwen, own Prospect Hill Golf Course in Auburn, the site for the new golf tournament.

“That’s one of the first things we thought of,” said Fuller. “The Gendrons are great people, and we figured that would be a good place to start.”

“There are only so many ways for alumni to get involved,” said Gendron. “I think having a golf tournament makes sense. There are a lot of football players and former football players who golf, and it’s a great way, I think, to get a lot of the alumni back together other than at a football game. It’s more relaxed.”

The main goal, said Fuller, is trying to find the best way to help the children who need the Shriner’s Hospitals.

“We’ve tried odds and ends before,” said Fuller. “Last year we tried to sell paper footballs, like the March of Dimes does with their shamrocks, but there was not a lot of return for the effort it took. We felt if we were going to put a lot of work into something, we needed to make it big.”

Nothing bigger, Fuller supposed, than a 144-person golf tournament, centrally located for most of the participants – and former participants – in Auburn.

“It’s a great course, kind of in the middle of everything,” said Fuller. “It’s not too easy, not too difficult.”

For Gendron, who still displays his Lobster Bowl jersey on his bedroom wall seven years later, this is a chance for him – and for his parents – to help out a worthy cause. For Fuller and the Shriners, it’s a chance to spread the word.

“There’s so much good about the shrine,” said Fuller. “It’s a great fraternity, and it’s so much about the children. This is just another avenue to explain what it’s about.”

The tournament will take place on Saturday, July 22, two days before the Lobster Bowl teams open their weeklong training camps. The game this year is on Friday, July 28, at Waterhouse Field in Biddeford.