Marshalltown Bobcats

But the senior for Marshalltown boys golf figured he must’ve done something right when his teammates and family mobbed him with support after tapping in his final putt of the day.

“That was a great feeling,” Faltys said. “I knew I was winning then.”

Faltys shot a 1-under-par 70 at Willow Creek Golf Course to win the Class 4A district tournament and advance to next week’s 4A state tournament as an individual qualifier.

He marks a return for Bobcat boys golf at the state meet after a seven-year run of at least one state qualifier came to an end in 2023. Ryan Schmit was the last MHS golfer to reach state in 2022.

Faltys was one stroke better than Johnston’s Andrew Johannsen and Henry Baker. Johnston, Cedar Falls and Indianola qualified as teams, and Norwalk’s Grady Sigrist will join Faltys as an individual qualifier.

The two-day state meet tees off on Oct. 14 from Briarwood Golf Club in Ankeny.

“I didn’t think I’d come out and win today, but I felt really good about my game,” Faltys said.

He made the turn at 1-under par, with birdies on both par 3s to balance out a bogey on No. 6.

“I was putting really good, giving myself a good position to get an angle at the green,” Faltys said. “I wanted to just try to hit a close shot and two-putt at worst.”

Faltys rolled in a birdie on No. 15 and looked composed, but even he thought he had blown his chances on the very last hole.

He misplayed a chip shot just off the lip of the 18th green, resulting in a bogey for his final hole of the day.

“I didn’t think I was going to win,” Faltys said.

A hearty handshake from MHS coach Lucas Johnson and happy embraces from Ty’s family assured him that he had done just enough.

“He just played really smart golf all the way around,” Johnson said. “He put himself in really good positions to put together a quality score, and didn’t try and get crazy chasing birdies.

“That’s the finish you want for your seniors that have put in four years of work for your program. So proud of how well he played.”

Faltys felt a bittersweet taste on Monday, though, as the Bobcats did not advance as a team, finishing sixth with a 308, seven strokes behind third-place Indianola in the last team-qualifying spot.

“It feels kind of sad,” Faltys said. “I wish I could play another year with the guys, it’s been fun these last four years, we just have an environment out there every time we play courses.”

Willow Creek’s pin placement challenged golfers looking to go birdie hunting, as even slightly missing the hole long often ended up with the putt off the green, and frequent bunkers were also an unwelcome sight for competitors looking for a clean short game.

Joe Greazel shot a 76, Jacob Seberger carded an 80 and Adam Boone shot an 82 for the final counting score for Marshalltown. Eli Polley and Parker Christen contributed non-scoring rounds of 83.

Des Moines Roosevelt and Ames also finished with a 308 team score on Monday — Marshalltown couldn’t beat the Roughriders in the fifth-golfer tiebreaker but did defeat the Little Cyclones.

“We knew going into this that if our guys all shot 75, that would be OK,” Johnson said. “And that ended up being exactly what we needed. We had two really great scores from Ty and Joe, and the rest comes down to a couple strokes here and there — it’s always that way on district day. But we competed well, we were in the mix, and that’s all you can hope for.”

Faltys is looking forward to getting a practice round out at Briarwood this weekend. Johnson noted this was Ty’s first time playing Briarwood since competing in the PGA Junior League.

“It’s been a while for him,” Johnson said. “There’s some tough driving holes, some holes where out of bounds comes into play, so we’ll talk about lines off the tees. I’m sure he’ll get a feel for it when it opens up to the high schoolers on Sunday. And I know he’ll step up, I know that he can compete.”

It was the final round of high school golf for Boone and Polley. But Johnson knows those seniors, and quite a few more Bobcats, will show their support for Faltys in Ankeny next week.

“These guys are a lot like brothers,” Johnson said. “They’ll spend all summer together playing golf, and they’ll be there on Monday and Tuesday to root him on.”

Class 4A District Golf

At West Des Moines

Willow Creek Golf Course, par 71

Team Standings (top 3 advance to state) — 1. Johnston 289, 2. Cedar Falls 298, 3. Indianola 301, 4. Dallas Center-Grimes 303, 5. Des Moines Roosevelt 308, 6. Marshalltown 308, 7. Ames 308, 8. Norwalk 309, 9. Waterloo West 312, 10. Fort Dodge 333, 11. Waterloo East 350, 12. Des Moines Lincoln 392, 13. Des Moines East 403, 14. Des Moines North 450.

Top 4 individuals — 1. Ty Faltys, MHS, 70; 2. Andrew Johannsen, JHN, 71; 3. Henry Baker, JHN, 71; 4. Lucas Laffoon, JHN, 72.

Individual qualifers (top 2 from non-qualifying teams) — Faltys, MHS, 70; Grady Sigrist, NOR, 73.

JOHNSTON (289) — Johannsen 71, Baker 71, Laffoon 72, Kolby Stanton 75, Garrett Cramer 82, Nicholas Parenza 83.

CEDAR FALLS (298) — Drew Larimer 73, Anthony Galvin 74, Ethan Boyle 74, Leyton Langan 77, Camden Juhlin 88, Ryan Parkhurst 90.

INDIANOLA (301) — Giovanni Richardson 73, Tyler Santi 74, Jackson Buchanan 75, Hayden Stockberger 79, Ryker Burgin 80, Daltry Tupper 90.

DALLAS CENTER-GRIMES (303) — Gavin Drake 74, Avery Van Zelderen 76, Chase Perrin 78, Jackson Zeller 75, Camren Allen 79, Noah Moberg 81.

DM ROOSEVELT (308) — Harrison Elliott 74, Evan Kohlsdorf 77, Sawyer Evans 78, Tony Song 79, Finley Newman 79, William Dix 87.

MARSHALLTOWN (308) — Faltys 70, Joe Greazel 76, Jacob Seberger 80, Adam Boone 82, Eli Polley 83, Parker Christen 83.

AMES (308) — Bowen Flemming 74, Jackson Kepley 74, Ashton Richey 75, Oliver Fields 85, Daniel Murphy 89, Landyn Lohman 89.

NORWALK (309) — Sigrist 73, Ian Lux 76, Mason Johnson 80, Kaleb Foltz 80, Dayton Poen 80, Tillman Papcun 82.

WATERLOO WEST (312) — Jackson Stanford 75, Jay McCausland 76, Brody Schmidt 79, Colin Lesyshen 82, Harrison Ritter 84, Samuel McPoland 94.

FORT DODGE (333) — Mason Frevert 79, Davis Underberg 79, Bo Marsh 86, Jaxson Dencklau 89, Gavin Davis 89, Trace Rial 90.

WATERLOO EAST (350) — Jonah Helmrichs 82, Keegan Aitchison 88, Nolan Pfalzgraf 88, Caleb Peters 92, Brayden Petersen 96, Cole Judas 106.

DM LINCOLN (392) — Calvin Bartlett 92, Kaleb Villalobos 94, John Redick 98, Hank Wright 108, Ryder Vizcarra 114, Trip Dickey III 115.

DM EAST (403) — Keegan Beattie-Cerveny 94, Devin Audsley 99, Dylan Housley 100, Arun Handley 110, Wesley Jordan 115, Edmund Hamann 120.

DM NORTH (450) — JJ Seay Jr. 106, Scott Nguyen 107, David Christensen 113, Landyn Park-Wyld 124, Bryan Lovan 130.