90 years ago, the Scots who settled in Sarasota couldn’t have known that the then tiny bayside city might be providing a path for US Olympic Lawn Bowling hopefuls to Budapest, Paris or Los Angeles in 2024. World Bowls, the worldwide governing body of the Lawn Bowling community has petitioned the International Olympic Committee to participate in future games endorsed by the Commonwealth Games Federation. Interestingly enough, a section of the bid was borrowed from Daniel Jittu, President of the Sarasota Lawn Bowling Club's presentation to host the 2016 and 2017 US Open games in Sarasota.

According to Neil Dalrymple, CEO of Bowls Australia, the world of bowls started taking notice of the United States when the US women's Lawn Bowling team took home the gold in March at the China Open in Shenzhen. Dalrymple applauded Sarasota for taking a lead role in this success.

Unlike other countries, where greens are as frequent as Starbucks, only a few public parks are still open to bowlers thanks to visionaries such as Marcellus Jocelyn, Del Webb and Roy and Walt Disney, all avid bowlers. For more information visit: www.bowlsusopen.com.

Sarasota Lawn Bowling Club