Wachter, Mulrooney a winning team in the 17th edition of The Deeg Sezna

   The Deeg Sezna is a unique event on the Golf Association of Philadelphia calendar, a tournament that celebrates the mentorship an older generation can offer to its younger counterparts.

   It brings together some interesting pairings and its participants always seem to enjoy the day. The 17^th edition of The Deeg Sezna was played Monday at Radley Run Country Club and the DuPont Country Club pairing of Mark Wachter and rising junior standout Alex Mulrooney put together the only sub-par round of the day, a 2-under 70, to capture top honors in the Junior Boys division.

   The 50-year-old Wachter met the 15-year-old Mulrooney at a yoga class that Mulrooney attended with his mother Debbie. There is often an interesting story about how the mentoring aspect of the relationships in The Deeg Sezna came together. The pairs have to be separated by 10 or more years and the younger partner must be 21 or younger.

   This partnership proved to be a winning one in the tricky select-drive, alternate-shot format over the 6,303-yard, par-72 Radley Run layout.

   The duo got its first birdie at the par-5 seventh when Mulrooney, a sophomore at Concord High, bombed his 3-hybrid from 240 yards away to right in front of the green. Wachter chipped to five feet and Mulrooney sank the putt.

   Wachter’s wedge from 120 yards away at the par-4 ninth left Mulrooney a 15-footer for birdie and he made it to enable the team to make the turn at 1-under.

   Wachter drove it within 40 yards of the short, par-4 10^th and Mulrooney flopped a tough approach over a bunker to six feet and Wachter converted the birdie try.

   A three-putt bogey at 14 dropped the DuPont duo back to 1-under, but Mulrooney’s approach from 50 yards away at the par-5 16^th left Wachter with a five-footer for birdie and he made it. Wachter got a clutch eight-footer for par to fall at the finishing hole to enable the pair to finish at 2-under.

   Mulrooney opened some eyes when he finished tied for sixth as the youngest player in the field in the Philadelphia Open at St. Davids Golf Club last month. The Philly Open is probably the deepest field in the area each year with the top GAP amateurs and the best club pros from the Philadelphia Section PGA making up the field.

   Returning to Delaware, Mulrooney captured the Delaware State Golf Association Junior Championship at Maple Dale Country Club and then fired a sizzling 7-under 65 in the final round to finish in a tie for 16^th in the DSGA Open Championship at the Heritage Shores Club.

   “Luckily I recruited him for today before he started getting hot,” Wachter told the GAP website concerning his precocious partner. “I’ve already got Matt Finger asking me to recruit him for the (BMW GAP Team Matches). We’ve got a lot of talent at DuPont.”

   Two teams matched par at 72 and finished tied for second, including John VanDame Jr. of Talamore Country Club and Joshua Ryan of the GAP Junior Players Club and John Buliga of Yardley Country Club and Mark Czemiakowski of LuLu Country Club. Ryan, who earned a trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship representing Norristown High as a freshman, will be one of the top returning players in District One when the scholastic season tees off in a few weeks.

   The Whitford Country Club pair of Nicky Marrollo and Bruce Cowgill finished alone in fourth with a 1-over 73.

   Finishing in a tie for fifth at 2-over 74 were the Spring-Ford Country Club pair of George Steinmetz and Drew Steinmetz, a senior at The Hill School, and Jay Vasil of Fox Hill Country Club and Ryan Rucinski of Hartefeld National Golf Club. Three days later, Rucinski, a Wilmington College senior, would nail down GAP’s Silver Cross Award at the conclusion of the Patterson Cup.

   Four teams shared seventh place at 3-over 75, including Richard Ogorek and Ryan Bree of Fieldstone Golf Club, the Chester Valley Golf Club pair of Henry Fish and Ryan Carroll, Doug Borgeson of Huntingdon Valley Country Club and Robbie Copit of Green Valley Country Club and the Blue Bell Country Club tandem of Michael Tyrell and Buddy Hansen IV. Borgeson is the golf coach at Episcopal Academy and Copit is a senior on the Churchmen’s roster.

   A couple of Talamore teams, Keith Matt and Christian Matt, and Darren Nolan and Michael Fireman finished 11^th and 12^th with respective scores of 76 and 78.

   The title in the Junior Girls division went to Bethlehem legend Noreen Mohler of Northampton Country Club and Grace Simenson of RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve as they put together a solid 8-over 80.

   The 64-year-old Mohler met the 18-year-old Simenson when the youngster won the junior-junior division in the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship at Hershey Country Club six years ago and the two have stayed in touch ever since.

   Simenson is headed for the University of Texas, where she will be studying biomedical engineering. She might give the club team a shot in Austin, although I suspect her course of study is going to keep her pretty busy.

   The Philadelphia Cricket Club team of Kerry Rutan and Emma Schotsch, a sophomore at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, was the runnerup at 85. Nancy Jones and Alison Jones of the host club, Radley Run, were a shot behind Rutan and Schotsch in third with an 86.

   The Tavistock Country Club pair of Nathan Guertler and Adam Warner carded a 78 to take top honors in a tight battle in the Junior-Junior Boys division. The Steel Club pair of Frank Boensch and Frank Boensch III was a shot behind Guertler and Warner in second with a 79 and it was another shot back to the Radley Run duo of Greg Smith and Kasim Narinesingh, who posted an 80.

   William Walker of Middletown Country Club and Reid Walker of Riverton Country Club finished fourth with an 84.

   Taylor Hollander and Mary Dunigan of Kennett Square Golf & Country Club took top honors in the Junior-Junior Girls division with an 88.

   It seemed only a matter of time before one of PGA Tour veteran Sean O’Hair’s youngsters showed up in a golf result in this area and mom Jaclyn O’Hair teamed with Molly O’Hair, playing out of Wilmington Country Club, to finish second behind Hollander and Dunigan with a 91. Jaclyn O’Hair was a pretty good high school player at Sun Valley, making at least one trip to the PIAA Championship.

   The Whitemarsh Valley Country Club duo of Peter Oppenheimer and Casey Oppenheimer fired a solid 4-over 76 to win the Mixed division. Casey Oppenheimer has been a standout performer on the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour the last few summers.

   The Northampton Country Club tandem of Josh Sanborn and Grace Sanborn was the runnerup, five shots behind Team Oppenheimer with an 81, and Daniel Kilpatrick of Philmont Country Club and Kyleigh Kilpatrick, a GAP Youth on Course entry, finished third with a 94.

   Davis “Deeg” Sezna Jr. was in his sixth day in his new job on the 104^th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 when the terrorists struck and he lost his life. His father, Davis Sezna Sr., always admired the way his son mentored his younger brothers, Teddy and Willy, and the elder Sezna, along with GAP, came  up with The Deeg Sezna as a way to memorialize his son and to celebrate that mentoring relationship he had with his younger brothers.