Junior Eli Davis is making his second straight trip to the Missouri Class 3 State Tournament.
This time, however, he’s going solo.

Davis advanced to the state tournament as an individual from the Missouri Class 3 District 1 Tournament, held Friday, May 8 at Bogey Creek Golf Course in Farmington.
The Class 3 State Tournament is scheduled to be held Monday and Tuesday, May 18-19 at Sedalia Country Club in Sedalia.

After qualifying for the state tournament as a full team in 2025, the Tigers finished eighth this season with a score of 366. The top two finishing district teams moved on to the state tournament, and in District 1 those teams were St. Francis Borgia first with 311 and Dexter runner-up with 323.
The other top 15 individuals also moved on to state.

E. Davis went as part of a team a year ago. This year his going alone.

“It’s kind of sad; I really enjoyed going to state with teammates last year,” Davis said. “But it also feels good I could still get there. To know I was good enough. Coach (Zane) Garr took me to a simulator before district and that helped a lot. When you got in that rough (at Farmington), it was pretty deep.”

And soggy. After a heavy rain earlier in the week, the Bogey Creek course took on much water, even though Davis avoided actual rain on Friday.

Davis ended up finishing seventh overall individually with 7-over-par 79. That was seven strokes over the co-meet medalists’ - Dexter’s Fredric Nesselrodt and Borgia’s Houston Tiefenbrunn - even-par performance.

“Things went pretty good,” Davis said of the district tourney. “I didn’t hit the ball amazing, but I hit a lot of greens in regulation. It was soggy, but it didn’t rain while I was out there. I putted well enough; I had some short putts.”

Davis earned All-Four Rivers Conference and All-District honors this spring. But he said it was a rocky season at times.

“Before Friday, to me the season seemed as a failure,” he said. “I was not consistent at all. I wasn’t placing high in tournaments. But I put it together when it counted.”

Davis has not played the Sedalia Country Club course, but is planning to play it during his practice round Sunday, May 17.

And he hopes to continue to peak at the right time.

“I would like to be all-state,” Davis said. “I want to be in the mid-70s for a score, but I would like to get that all-state medal.”

Class 3 District 1 Tourney

May 8 at Farmington

Bogey Creek G. C.

Par 72

Team Standings: 1. St. Francis Borgia 311*, 2. Dexter 323*, 3. Fredericktown 347, 4. Potosi 350, 5. Ste. Genevieve 353, 6. Salem 360, 7. St. Clair 363, 8. St. James 366, 9. Sullivan 367, 10. North County 373, 11. Park Hills Central 378, 12. Herculaneum 387, 13. Owensville 408, 14. Kennett 431.

*-State Qualifying Teams

Individual Top-10 - Even-par 72: Fredric Nesselrodt, Dexter; Houston Tiefenbrunn, Borgia. 77: Carsen Dudley, Sullivan; William Guethle, Dexter; Clay Kelley, Borgia. 78: Aiden Summers, Salem. 79: Eli Davis, St. James. 80: Rory Helfrich, Borgia. 81: Treyton McFarland, Park Hills Central. 82: Connor Brown, Borgia; Luke Ferranto, Ste. Genevieve; Jackson Kelley, Borgia.
St. James Results: Eli Davis 79, Owen Spurgeon 93, Skylar 95, Daxton Weinbaum 99, Noble Davis 104.