From Colin Beazley at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
A Roethlisberger and his team are about to represent Pittsburgh and compete for a championship on National TV, and it’s not Big Ben this time.
The former Steelers quarterback’s son, 11-year old Benjamin Roethlisberger Jr., and seven other local children will be competing for the PGA Junior League national championships started Wednesday in Frisco, Texas. The tournament runs through Sunday and will be broadcast live on the ESPN networks on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The team, based out of Diamond Run Golf Club in Sewickley, advanced through multiple levels of qualification to reach this point. They competed for various different clubs throughout the PGA junior league season, then became an All-Star team in early June. The team competed as four two-person scrambles and won the Tri-State sectional event at Willowbrook in early August, then won the regional championship against three teams from New York in Syracuse in mid-September. Only 12 teams made it to Texas, where Diamond Run will compete as Team Pennsylvania.
The team is full of excellent golfers, but their coach, Adam Morrison, believes the team is special.
“The talent level obviously speaks for itself,” Morrison said. “… Golf’s a sport where it’s typically individual, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to have a teammate here and they’re all good teammates. They’re great kids.”
Sitting around a table after a recent practice, it’s clear both that the team genuinely likes each other and that they’re not nervous for the upcoming tournament.
They’re only a little bit worried about being on ESPN, but they’ll get used to it. They’re all excited to watch their own highlights on YouTube.
It’s also cool that the team doesn’t really care that the son of the former Steelers quarterback is on the team — he’s just Ben. From his scramble partner Bush, to Rittler, Ameredes, Hendrick, Miller, 12-year old Elijah Stewart, from East Liverpool, Ohio, and 11-year old Avella native Logan Gamrod, no one treats Little Ben any differently.
It’s the same way for the elder Roethlisberger. He often caddies for his son, but he’s not seen as a celebrity here.
“He’s just a normal dad,” Morrison said. “I think that’s the best way to say it. … He’s a great dad at the end of the day. I think that’s what’s unique. We’re not treating him like Ben Roethlisberger. We’re treating him like he’s Benjamin’s dad.”
You can read the full article here.
Leave A Comment