36 | AUGUST 22 • 2024 J
N
T
he six boys on the Detroit
golf team at the JCC Maccabi
Games hosted by Detroit this
summer attend three different high
schools.
But they knew each other, were
friends and had played golf together
before they became Maccabi
teammates.
Still, they didn’t decide together to
play golf at the Detroit games.
“We signed up separately,” said
Ethan Tigay. “I signed up after my
grandfather (Barry Bean) signed up
as a volunteer to be a golf coach. He
encouraged me to play.”
This was the Detroit golf team’s
roster: Ben Berman, Hayden
Schwartzenfeld, Levi Yaker and Tigay
attend Bloomfield Hills High School.
Ari Blank goes to Birmingham Groves
High School. Robbie Feldman attends
the Frankel Jewish Academy.
Each boy will be a junior this
fall. Tigay is 15. The other boys
are 16. Tigay, Berman, Blank and
Feldman play golf for their school.
Schwartzenfeld and Yaker play
baseball for their school.
The Detroit golf team earned
several medals in the 16U age division
at the Maccabi Games.
Detroit golf coach Kevin Taylor
earned a coveted midot tovot (good
deed) medal for embodying Maccabi
values after serving as a mentor,
coach and surrogate family member
to Leo Brockman, a young golfer
from St. Louis who did not have golf
teammates nor a golf coach with him
in Detroit.
The medal was given to him by
Brockman.
“Leo found me at the closing
ceremonies, put a midot tovot medal
around my neck and gave me a hug,”
Taylor said. “He’s a wonderful young
man. I’ll admit I got a little emotional
when he gave me the medal and
hugged me.”
The entire Maccabi Games
experience was an emotional one for
Tigay. Happy emotions.
“The golf part of it was amazing.
To get four country clubs to give
us tee times to play was great,” he
said. “I didn’t know what to expect
participating in the Maccabi Games.
I’d never done it before. It was so
much fun. My family hosted two
golfers from Baltimore. That was
great, too.”
The three-day Maccabi Games golf
competition was supposed to begin
July 29 at Franklin Hills, but bad
weather changed those plans. Just a
few holes were played by the 30 or
so golfers in the 14U and 16U age
groups and the rest of their rounds
were called off.
So the first day of competition
became July 30 at Tam-O-Shanter and
second day of competition became
July 31 at Knollwood. An 18-hole best
ball scramble event was added Aug. 1
at Wabeek.
Most of the golfers in the field
participated in the scramble,
including all six Detroit golfers.
There were five teams of four golfers
made up of players from different
delegations.
Tigay shot 77 and 78 for 18-hole
rounds at Tam-O-Shanter and
Knollwood and won the gold medal
in the U16 A Flight. Feldman shot
75-84 and won the bronze medal in
the U16 A Flight. Tigay also won a
long drive competition among all the
golfers.
Detroit golfers swept all three
medals in the 16U B Flight. Yaker
won the gold with 92-84. Blank won
the silver with 96-86. Schwartzenfeld,
who had the least golf experience of
the Detroit golfers, won the bronze.
He shot 89 at Knollwood.
“That was the first time Hayden
broke 90 (for an 18-hole round),”
Tigay said.
“Hayden was our most improved
golfer from the beginning of practice
until the end of the competition,”
Taylor said.
Berman and Yaker were on the
winning team in the scramble. Tigay
was on the team that finished second.
Taylor was effusive in his praise for
Detroit’s golfers.
“I’m so proud of them,” he said.
“They played well, they were polite,
and they were so nice to the golfers
from the other delegations,” he said.
“Our golfers’ parents were great, too.”
Taylor — who also was Detroit’s
golf coach when Detroit hosted the
Maccabi Games in 2014 and 2019 —
and Bean were the only coaches for all
30 or so golfers who came to Detroit
this year for the Maccabi Games.
So they had to make sure everyone
had everything they needed to
compete.
Bean, a retired foot doctor, even
helped a golfer with a foot issue,
Taylor said.
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Heavy Medals
ETHAN TIGAY
Detroit golfers won medals on the course
and Coach Kevin Taylor earned a “midot
tovot” medal for being a mentor for a golfer
from St. Louis at the JCC Maccabi Games.
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
SPORTS
Detroit golf
coach Kevin
Taylor and St.
Louis golfer
Leo Brockman.
EMILIE BROCKMAN
Ethan Tigay, Assistant Coach Barry Bean,
Coach Kevin Taylor, Ari Blank and Levi Yaker.
Hayden Schwartzenfeld, Coach
Kevin Taylor, Robbie Feldman and
Ben Berman.
HAYDEN SCHWARTZENFELD