The Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Deeg Sezna Memorial
proved to be the perfect opportunity for the Aronimink Golf Club pair of Ryan
Mullen and Douglas Schroer to team up and play some winning golf.
The Deeg Sezna is a truly unique event that pairs a mentor
with a younger player and it is played in memory of Davis “Deeg” Sezna Jr., who
was a recent graduate of Vanderbilt University who was in his sixth day on the
job on the 104th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center
on Sept. 11, 2001. He was a mentor in golf and in life to his two younger
brothers, Teddy and Willy.
There must be a
minimum age difference of 10 years between players and the younger played must
be 21 or younger. For the first time this year, the format switched from
better-ball to select drive-alternate shot.
And that proved to be perfect for Mullen, 19, of Wayne and a
sophomore at Cabrini, and Schroer, 48, of Malvern. They fired a 4-under 68 over
the 6,287-yard, par-72 Whitford Country Club layout Thursday for a four-shot
victory over the formidable team of Tom Gravina of Aronimink and Merion Golf
Club’s Michael McDermott, the five-time William Hyndman III GAP Player of the
Year.
“Communication was key,” Mullen told the GAP website. “We
decided from the beginning that I would tee off first and whenever the doglegs would
be safe, he would just go all out with the big dog driver. That was one of the
strategies we had. I went first pretty much every shot and he would trail behind
me on the tee.”
“We settled into a routine where I stuffed it and he made
it,” Schroer said. “Other than cleaning up, I only putted three times.”
Mullen drained a 12-foot birdie try on the first after a
solid approach by Schroer. At the third, Mullen knocked his approach to 15 feet
and Schroer holed the birdie putt. Schroer stiffed a wedge to two feet at the sixth
and Mullen converted that putt.
On the par-5 ninth, Mullen reached the green in two with a
6-iron and dropped in a seven-foot birdie putt after Schroer was long with a
20-foot eagle try. The only blemishes on the front side were a pair of
three-putt bogeys at four and eight.
Schroer again knocked in close for a tap-in birdie at the 10th
and Mullen dropped in a bomb, a 25-footer, for birdie at the par-5 12th.
“That’s one of my favorite memories from today,” Mullen
said. “That’s where communication played a big part. I didn’t see as much break
as he saw and I went with him. I hit the line a little firm, but I hit the
line, that’s for sure.”
Mullen hit it to six feet at the par-3 13th hole
and Schroer converted that for the pair’s final birdie of the day that got them
to 5-under. That turned out to be plenty of cushion as they bogeyed the last to
end up at 4-under.
The event always draws plenty of Delco entrants and this
year was no different.
Tom Spano of Llanerch Country Club teamed with Brendan
Hallinan of Applebrook Golf Club to card a 73, a shot back of the
Gravina-McDermott pairing, in a tie for third.
The Llanerch pair of Jeff St. Amour and Jack McClatchy was
tied for sixth at 77. The Edgmont Country Club duo of Peter Moran and Ryan
Moran finished alone in 10th at 80. And another Llanerch team, J.J.
Bernato and Jack St. Amour, finished tied for 11th at 81.
A Rolling Green Golf Club entry of Peter Mark and Kathleen
Mark was unopposed in winning the male-female division with a 92.
Mullen, who sometimes caddies for Schroer at Aronimink, was
asked if he considers Schroer a mentor and Mullen’s reply summed up the spirit
of the day and the event.
“He’s a great guy and a great player,” Mullen said. “He
tells you how he thinks of it. All of the good things you can imagine.”
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