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@

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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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