Hall’s Landen Plym, BV’s Wyatt Novotny both advance to second round of Class 1A state golf tourney

BLOOMINGTON - Hall senior Landen Plym and Bureau Valley junior Wyatt Novotny are both moving on to Saturday’s second day of the IHSA Class 1A State Tournament.

Plym shot a 4-over-par 76 in Friday’s opening round at Prairie Vista Golf Course, tied with four other golfers for eighth place and eight strokes behind the leader.

Novotny finished the day with a round of 85, tied for 66th. He was one of five golfers at 85.

Both had their moments, but were happy to move on.

“I got a couple bad breaks early on, but I recovered well from them and finished with a solid score,” Plym said. “Looking forward to tomorrow.”

“It’s a great thing to move on and that’s the goal when you come down here,” Novotny said. “My play today was pretty disappointing as on my first nine, I couldn’t either find a good swing or a good break. But then I started to make some putts and some good swings and got to play tomorrow.”

The top eight teams and 40 individual qualifiers all advance to Day 2.

Fulton sophomore Owen Van Zuiden is the leader in the clubhouse at 70, two strokes ahead of Riverdale junior Mason Smyser.

Fulton leads the team standings with a round of 310, two strokes better than second-place Effingham St. Anthony.