Landen Plym, Wyatt Novotny taking friendly boys golf rivalry to state

Hall senior Landen Plym and Bureau Valley junior Wyatt Novotny have been to the IHSA State Golf Finals before.

Plym made it down as a sophomore in 2022, while Novotny went in his sophomore season last year.

But they have never gone down together, until now.

The Bureau County pair of aces are taking their friendly rivalry to state for the first time.

Plym shot a 76 at the Rockford Sectional at the The Mauh-Nah-Tee-See Golf Club, placing seventh overall as the second individual qualifier.

Novtony was two strokes back at 78, advancing as the seventh individual qualifier, 15th overall.

They are excited to go together.

“It is cool. Me and Wyatt have a friendly rivalry. We’re kind of buddies. It should be pretty fun,” Plym said.

“We’ve been going back and forth at it. Now that we can go down there together, it’s pretty special,” Novotny said.

They’ve had two head-to-head matchups this season.

The first came at the Bureau County match play Sept. 6 at Spring Creek Golf Course, which went down to the last hole with Plym prevailing by one stroke.

“I remember match play. It came down to the last hole and I had to make birdie to beat him,” Plym said.

“He beat me there. Came down to the last hole and he made a good birdie. So, he’s got me this year,” Novotny said.

They also placed 1-2 at the Kewanee Boilermaker Invite on Sept. 14 with Plym shooting a 70 and Novotny a 71.

The two Bureau County aces agree they bring out the best in each other whenever they are paired off.

“Every time we play together, it’s pretty intense, but it’s pretty fun,” Plym said. “I always play my best golf with him.”

“Whenever we either get paired together and know each other’s in the field, we’ve got to beat each other. It’s a little friendly rivalry,” Novotny said.

After they received their medals at sectional to punch their tickets to state, they congratulated one another.

“We talked and said, ‘Finally, we can both go down, and it will be pretty fun,” Novotny said.

Plym felt good going into sectional that he could make his return to state after missing out last year by three strokes.

“It’s awesome. I wasn’t too nervous. Just wanted to have fun, get through the round and just play good golf to get to go, which I did,” said Plym, overcoming an errant tee shot off hole No. 2 and shooting a 76. “The cut’s been about 80 every year. I knew if I put together a good round, and if everything clicked, [I] should be good.”

Henry-Senachwine juniors Jacob Miller and Carson Rowe also will play at state after qualifying out of the Rockford Lutheran Sectional.

Miller tied for sixth at the sectional with a 76, while Rowe tied for 11th with a 77.

This year’s state finals are being pushed back a week to Oct. 18-19 at Prairie Vista Golf Course in Bloomington to avoid Yom Kippur, the Jewish Holiday. The IHSA said this will better ensure the most inclusive tournament to allow all to participate in.

Plym said the extra week will help him fine tune his game.

“I had some parts of my game that were kind of rough that I need to do some fixing on over the next week and a half. I’ll do some practice, get some reps in and hopefully be ready to go,” he said.

He joked that the folks at Spring Creek will be seeing a lot of him in the next week.

Novotny is more indifferent about having state pushed back a week.

“It kind of depends how you view it, I guess. If you want to keep in a groove, or if you want time to fall back and practice,” he said.

SCHULTZ ENDS AREA DROUGHT

Fieldcrest senior Jessica Schultz shot a 93 at the Class 1A El Paso-Gridley Sectional to tie for fifth and qualify for the state meet this weekend at Red Tail Run Golf Course in Decatur.

Schultz is the first NewsTribune area girls player to qualify for state since Princeton junior Arraia Hicks qualified in 2014 where she tied for 59th with a 93.