Kaspar, Danner take Sezna Four Ball

  AVONDALE, Pa.–Steady rain failed to dampen the spirits of the golfers or the spirit of the day, as 140 players competed with pride Wednesday in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 4^th Deeg Sezna Four-Ball Tournament at Hartefeld National (par 72, 6,404 yards).   

Christopher Kaspar, 19, and Mike Danner, 31, of Lu Lu CC, won the overall better ball competition with a seven-birdie, 7-under-par 65 in a field of 152 players in a match of cards with Tim Klagholz, 20, of Applebrook CG, and Martin Klagholz, 54, of Rolling Green GC.  

 In a sense, everyone won.   

The tournament, celebrating mentorship of the older generation for its younger counterparts, is named in honor of Davis “Deeg” Sezna, Jr., who lost his life on September 11, 2001 in the attack on the World Trade Center in New York.   Deeg, an avid golfer long a mentor to his younger brothers Teddy and Willy, and a recent graduate of Vanderbilt University with a degree in economics, was in his sixth day of work on the 104^th floor of the South Tower when the terrorists struck.   

To memorialize his name, GAP and his father, Davis Sezna, Sr., established the Deeg Sezna Four-Ball, pairing a junior player and an older amateur in a better ball competition, with a minimum age difference of 10 years and the stipulation that the younger player be 21 or younger.   

The goal is to give experienced golfers quality time with the next generation, and vice versa. The age range was 13 to 62.   Low net winners were Patrick Devlin, 17, and Dennis Durkin, 52, of Whitemarsh Valley CC, who posted a 12-under-par 60, one shot better than John Inman, 14, and Mack Inman, 47, of Cherry Valley CC.   

Danner, who is first alternate from the Philadelphia Region for the U.S. Amateur at Merion GC later this month, said of the winning duo: “We hit it really, really solid. Both of us were in about every hole. We had a lot of looks at birdies. I had four and Chris had three.”   

Kaspar said he liked the Sezna format of pairing younger golfers with more established players.   

“You learn,” he said, “not to try for birdies all the time, to go for a lot of pars, not to make mistakes and big numbers, to play steady golf.”

“Mike,” he said with a smile, “is a good mentor.”