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