The invitation turned into a celebration Thursday. Schroer and Mullen carded a 4-under-par 68 to capture the tournament’s 13th edition. The format is selective drive/alternate shot.

“Communication was key,” Mullen, 19, of Wayne, Pa., said. “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’s 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, 48, of Malvern, Pa., added. “Other than cleaning up, I only putted three times.”

Mullen fired five birdies on the day. The aforementioned routine surfaced immediately as Schroer hit a gap wedge 98 yards to 12 feet for a Mullen birdie on No. 1 (par 4, 358 yards). Mullen briefly stole Schroer’s wedge thunder on the par 4, 390-yard No. 3 by knocking one 110 yards to 15 feet. The roles reversed once again on No. 6 (par 4, 355 yards). Schroer stopped a wedge from 98 yards at two feet. The team acted against its’ red figure routine and elected to use Schroer’s drive on the difficult par 5, 487-yard No. 9. It worked as Mullen powered a 6-iron 165 yards to 20 feet below the flagstick. Schroer ran the eagle attempt seven feet by the jar, but Mullen, a sophomore at Cabrini College, converted the comebacker. Three-putts spearheaded by Schroer on Nos. 4 (par 5, 562 yards) and 8 (par 4, 386 yards) sparked the team’s only bogeys heading out.

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