ANKENY — Ty Faltys played well enough to keep himself in medal contention after the first 18 holes of golf for the Marshalltown senior at this year’s Class 4A State Meet at Briarwood Golf Club in Ankeny on Monday.
Faltys shot a 7-over-par round of 79 and currently sits tied for 32nd with 12 other golfers. The cutoff for the top-8 individuals that earn state medals is at 1-over-par 73 after Day 1.
He’ll tee off for the final day of the state meet at 11 a.m. today.
“You can’t win it on day one, but you can definitely shoot yourself out of it,” MHS head coach Lucas Johnson said. “He played well, and he’s gonna go out there tomorrow and just continue to see where the game takes him.”
Teeing off from No. 10 with a par, he ran into his only double-bogey of the day with a troublesome green on No. 11, and then bounced back on No. 12 with a chip out from under a tree and onto the green, where he made a mid-length putt for his first birdie of the day. He made another long bomb of a putt on No. 16 to birdie that par 4.
In all, Faltys had three bogeys on the back nine and four on the front in addition to the two birdies.
On Monday, Faltys’ putter giveth birdies — and took them away, too.
“My putter wasn’t great,” Faltys said. “It just led me to a higher score. … The greens were hard to read, some putts were breaking more than I thought but most of them were just barely breaking.”
Faltys did feel his approach shots and wedges kept him competitive, and Johnson added that he felt Faltys was sharp coming off the tee.
“He put in an absolute clinic off the tee,” Johnson said. “He never really had any stress and put himself in position to attack a lot of flags. I would guess there are some putts and chips that he’d want back, but day one in the 70s is a great place to be.”
The practice round Faltys played on Sunday was wildly different from Monday’s conditions, going from high winds to a relatively calm day, even if it was by far the coldest day of the season.
“The ball didn’t travel quite as far as it had throughout the summer,” Johnson said, “so I think it left some of his approach shots a little short, and that might be an adjustment he makes tomorrow, and there was some speed control on the greens that was a little suspect, but again, he adjusted.
“He played really well down the stretch, adjusted to the conditions and really set himself up for a good round tomorrow.”
Johnston’s Andrew Johannsen is the overall leader after Day 1, shooting a 3-under 69 on Monday. The Dragons also lead the team race by three strokes over Dubuque Wahlert.
Faltys enjoyed knowing that his teammates followed him for all 18 holes on Monday, hearing their encouragement.
“It’s just like we did for [2022 individual state qualifier] Ryan Schmit,” Faltys said. “It’s good to have them out here supporting me. … I just need to play consistent tomorrow, focus on having fun instead of trying to go out there and win it.”
2024 Iowa High School Boys State Golf Meet
CLASS 4A
At Ankeny
Briarwood Golf Club, par 72
First Round
Team Standings — 1. Johnston 298, 2. Dubuque Wahlert 301, 3. Ankeny 303, 4. North Scott 305, T-5. Cedar Falls 306, T-5. WDM Valley 306, 7. Pleasant Valley 307, 8. Waukee 308, 9. Ankeny Centennial 310, 10. Dowling Catholic 321.
Individual leaders (top 8 plus area) — 1. Andrew Johannsen, Johnston, 69; 2. Anthony Galvin, Cedar Falls, 70; 3. (tie) Andrew Vollbeer, North Scott, 72; Drew Larimer, Cedar Falls, 72; C.T. Norris, WDM Valley, 72; Ethan Blomme, Pleasant Valley, 72; 7. (tie) Ty Potter, SE Polk, 73; Callan Martineau, Dubuque Wahlert, 73; 32. Ty Faltys, Marshalltown, 79.