Mullen, Schroer a winning team in Deeg Sezna

  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 104^th 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 10^th and Mullen dropped in a bomb, a 25-footer, for birdie at the par-5 12^th.

   “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 13^th 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 10^th at 80. And another Llanerch team, J.J. Bernato and Jack St. Amour, finished tied for 11^th 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.”