44 | SEPTEMBER 26 • 2024
J
N
T
he 12th season of the weekly
B’nai B’rith Golf League is in
the books.
Twelve teams of two golfers com-
peted in nine-hole rounds over 16
weeks once again at the Links of Novi,
the league’s home course for 11 years.
Some familiar names dotted the leader
board in the first league’s first season
with two divisions.
Gary Klinger and Howard Meyers
finished in first place in the six-team
Corey Pavin Division, but it wasn’t
easy. They tied with Jeff Novick and
Marc Ruskin, tied again in a three-hole
playoff, and Klinger and Meyers won
a putt-off.
Mitch Lefton and Stu Zorn took first
place in dominant fashion in the six-
team Max Homa Division. They had a
seven-week winning streak from Week
No. 2 to Week No. 8 and weren’t chal-
lenged after that.
But Lefton and Zorn couldn’t take
home the big prize, the league cham-
pionship. Klinger and Meyers beat
Lefton and Zorn in the title match,
repeating their 2014 championship.
Klinger has won six championships
overall.
Lefton and Zorn have been team-
mates since the league began.
Longtime Brotherhood-Eddie
Jacobson B’nai B’rith Bowling League
teammates, they decided to join forces
in the B’nai B’rith Golf League, and
they’ve been a force from the start
despite losing the championship match
four times.
“Mitch and I always talk about
tempo,
” Zorn said when asked about
the secret of their success.
“We’re always tell each other to slow
down ... usually me,
” Zorn said.
Zorn has a winning streak going in
the league’s individual competition.
He’s won the individual championship
two years in a row, this year taking the
lead in Week 3 and never looking back.
Ruskin, Larry Shapiro and Lefton
rounded out the top four in the indi-
vidual standings, with Klinger and
Adam Vieder tying for fifth place.
Adam and Ryan Vieder won the
third-place team match between the
runners-up in each division, defeating
Novick and Ruskin.
Zorn, a nurse at the Marvin & Betty
Danto Health Care Center in West
Bloomfield, enjoys playing in the B’nai
B’rith Golf League.
“Everyone is competitive, but doesn’t
take things too seriously. Nobody in
our league makes a living playing golf,
”
he said. “We have fun playing nine
holes each weekS and enjoying each
other’s compony.
“Plus, there’s Gary (Klinger). There
wouldn’t be a league without him.
”
Klinger is the league’s organizer and
statistician. In addition to providing
weekly league updates, he compiles a
detailed, multi-page league statistical
summary at the end of each season.
Here are some of the league facts
and statistics for 2024 compiled by
Klinger:
• Meyers was the hottest golfer in
the league at the end of the season,
shooting three 37s and a 38 over the
final week.
• Novick was the most-improved
golfer. He lowered his average gross
score from 54.60 in 2023 to 53.67 this
year, a drop of 0.93. His average for
2022 was 56.23.
• The lone eagle was shot by Cory
Richards.
• Meyers and Richards led the league
with six birdies. Adam Vieder had five,
and Josh Baker and Zorn each had
three.
• Meyers led the league in pars (57),
followed by Ryan Vieder (38), David
Swimmer (37) and Baker (36).
• Swimmer led the league in bogeys
(68), followed by Meyers (58), Adam
Vieder (57) and Ryan Stone, Ryan
Vieder and Baker (56).
• Five golfers — Baker, Meyers,
Stone, Swimmer and Zorn — had
perfect attendance. They played all 16
rounds. Five other golfers were there
for 15 rounds. They were Gary and
Mike Klinger, Jody Mendelson, Novick
and Shapiro.
• Only seven of 19 returning golfers
improved their handicap.
• Of the 26 regular golfers (including
substitutes), eight didn’t shoot a birdie
the entire season.
The weather cooperated for the
league this spring and summer.
“Maybe for the first time ever, we
had no rainouts,
” Klinger said. “We
definitely flirted with rainouts early on,
but we never had to miss.
”
Send sports news to stevestein502004@
yahoo.com.
Par for the Course
SUBMITTED PHOTO
SUBMITTED PHOTO
B’nai B’rith Golf League has new format,
but familiar champions.
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
SPORTS
Stu Zorn
and Mitch
Lefton.
Gary Klinger
and Howard
Meyers.
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HHD AD 2024.indd 1