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 trade inside jokes and banter with each other, and when asked what they’re most excited for, Oakdale native Niko Ameredes doesn’t hesitate.
“I’m most excited for the ice cream social thing,” Ameredes says, referring to a between-rounds event at the tournament, and his whole team laughed before he could even get to the punchline. Liam Miller, a 12-year old from Pittsburgh, says it’s all Ameredes could talk about during the final round at Syracuse, telling the team, “Ice cream social day if we win this.”
Miller is also excited to see Ameredes compete in the long drive competition, as he saw a previous winner win a cowboy hat. Morrison says Ameredes can hit the ball 280 yards off the tee, which would give the 11-year-old a real shot to win.
Bentley Bush, 12 from Toronto, Ohio, is excited to see the course and to try Whataburger. He’s played in tournaments in the Dominican Republic, South Carolina, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and New York, but he doesn’t expect Texas golf to be any different.
Taylor Rittler, 13 from Sewickley, is both the oldest on the team and the only girl. She says the boys have treated her well.
“I didn’t know anybody coming into it,” Rittler said. “But I’m all friends with them now. They’re all very nice.”
Jake Hendrick, a 12-year old from Sewickley, has been golfing since he was two and has been on the team for a couple of years.
“This is definitely our best team,” Hendrick said. “I've had so much fun with this team. Every single round has really been fun. I’m just happy everyone joined it.”
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.”
Hot Shots have real shot
Another local team is competing in the PGA Junior League’s other age group, but their sole focus is winning. The 17u Hot Shot All-Stars, from Hot Shot Golf Academy in Pittsburgh, will compete in the national championships for the fourth consecutive year when they tee off in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M., in mid-November.
They’re determined to win it all this time.
“Sectionals and regionals were just kind of stepping stones,” coach Troy Williams said. “We knew the goal was getting to the national championship and trying to win it. We're just checking off boxes, one step at a time.”
This team is what happens when a 13u PGA Junior League team sticks together. The core of Williams’ team has been with him since 2019, when it fell in regional competition.
“I'm not gonna lie to you, that was a humbling experience,” Williams said. “I thought we were very talented. And we went up to regionals, and we took third place. And one thing I made my boys do is I made them stay there and watch the [winning] team get the trophy. ... I said to them, ‘That will be us. I promise you, that will be us.’”
Williams was right, and the team has dominated since. While they haven’t won the national event, they’ve learned what it’s like to play golf with TV cameras around, post-round interviews, and how to compete on a national stage. They’ll play a practice round on the course before the tournament starts, putt after it, and do everything they can to win.
This is a business trip — there’s no ice cream social on the itinerary.
Six players compete as three two-man scrambles, slightly smaller than a 13u team, and the partnerships are well-established.
Alex Eckstein, 16, and Angelo Rinaldi, 15, are the first pair, both from Poland, Ohio. Williams likes how they balance each other out, joking that Rinaldi has said five words in the three years Williams has coached him, while Eckstein likes to talk smack. It works.
Ethan Dai, 17 from Quaker Valley, and 16-year old Jonah Schollaert, from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, are another pair. The two ironically tied for fourth at the WPIAL Class 2A championships last week. There’s some strategy in this grouping. Schollaert is a steady golfer, always hitting the fairway, which allows Dai to swing big. The two play as a team, making them tough to beat.
Ty Hartman, a 14-year old freshman from Thomas Jefferson, plays with 15-year old Clarksburg, W.Va., native Carson Higginbotham. Hartman’s the youngest on the team and hasn’t played in the championships, so Higginbotham treats him like a little brother, talking through each shot. They complement each other well.
Being from Pennsylvania is a challenge, as the team will compete against teams from warmer climates that play year-round. Williams believes his team is doing more than just representing the region.
“[My team is] proving to everybody else in the world that some of the best golf does come from Western Pa.,” Williams said. “We had Arnold Palmer. I hope one of my boys is the next Arnold Palmer to come from Western Pa., go on and win a Masters and things like that.”
First Published: October 9, 2024, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: October 9, 2024, 5:35 p.m.
