Healed Keller ready for Tam

June 22, 2016 at 12:06a.m.

By STEVE WILAJ

HERMITAGE, PA.

Ken Keller knows Tam O’Shanter Golf Course a little bit.

“I’ve played their a few times,” he said.

So when he tees off at the Hermitage, Pa., course on Friday for the third round of the Flynn Automotive Group Juniors Greatest Golfer of the Valley tournament, the Cardinal Mooney senior likes his chances in the boys 17-U field.

“I think I know the course well enough to play there without a practice round,” Keller said. “My goal — in the past I haven’t been able to hit the ball too straight off the tee — I’m going to keep the ball in play as much as I can. Just hit some greens and then make a few putts here and there and my score should be OK.”

Friday’s round will be the first of the Greatest Golfer tourney for Keller.

He didn’t play in the first two, while he suffered a knee injury in early April playing in a charity basketball event. It knocked him out of competition for more than a month — putting him on crutches in the process — although he recently participated in the Ohio Junior Championship and the Junior PGA sectional.

“The Ohio Junior went really well,” said Keller, who finished in second place. “The junior PGA didn’t go too well. But in the next few days I’m going to try to get some good practice in, work some things out and get mentally prepared.

“This year, my goal is definitely to win it. That’ll be a nice way to end since this is my last year playing in it.”

Keller will try to join Brian Terlesky — who won the opening round at Squaw Creek — and Anthony Graziano, who qualified at Pine Lakes, as a qualifier for the championship round in late July.

The girls 17-U qualifiers so far are Hannah Keffler and Jenna Vivo.

“We always enjoy hosting the Greatest Juniors,” said John Kerins, Tam O’Shanter’s PGA director of golf. “There is always a lot of competition. And it looks like the weather is going be nice on Friday.”

Kerins added that the course is in excellent condition.

“It’s in very nice shape,” he said. “It’s playing a little bit fast because we haven’t had much rain over here — we’ve been missing a lot — so the ball’s bouncing nice on the fairway. The green’s are beautiful, so it should be a good test.”

This is the seventh season for Greatest Golfer, and it has grown from an event serving 90 golfers to now impacting 3,000 golfers, 12 golf courses and 24 charities.

Play starts Friday at 9 a.m.