Canton’s Biggerstaff has revenge on his mind ahead of state championships

CANTON, Mo. — Trevor Biggerstaff felt like he let a state championship slip away in 2023.

Biggerstaff got off to a blistering start on the first day of the Missouri Class 1 boys golf state championships at the Country Club of Missouri in Columbia, Mo. Starting on the back nine, he shot an even-par 36 for the first nine holes.

“I was pretty pumped up and ready to go,” Biggerstaff said.

He then began his second nine with a double bogey and a triple bogey.

“That just really set me back,” Biggerstaff said.

Biggerstaff finished his first round at 8-over par 80, which put him in a tie for seventh entering the second round. He shot the second lowest score in the field on that second day with a 2-over 74. He finished third — five shots back of Ash Grove’s Asher Rust and two behind Sacred Heart’s Luke Jenkins.

“I feel like if I had that nine back, I could have won,” Biggerstaff said. “But that’s not how golf works.”

He gets another chance this week as the Canton senior qualified for the state tournament for the fourth straight season by winning the Class 1 District 2 title. He shot a 76 on a wet Heritage HIlls Golf Course in Moberly. Biggerstaff expects to see more of the same conditions at this year’s state championship, which begins Monday at Twin Hills Golf and Country Club in Joplin.

“It looks like it’s going to rain, so I’m prepared,” he said.

Conditions aside, Heritage Hills and Twin Hills present similar challenges.

“These courses line up pretty well because I’ll be hitting a lot of irons off of tees,” Biggerstaff said. “During districts, I hit driver like three times, and at state, I probably only will like three or four times. Both courses are pretty narrow. Hopefully I can get some type of fairway finder going.”

Prior to his third place finish in 2023, Biggerstaff finished 30th at state in 2022, and he was the final qualifier for the state tournament in 2021 when he finished 27th. He said he has matured a great deal as a golfer since that first state appearance.

“I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better emotionally and learned how not to blow up and not get mad,” he said. “Also, how to play a course, miss in the right spots, those kinds of things.”

The jump from 30th as a sophomore to third as a junior is notable, and Biggerstaff said a decision to drop a sport contributed to that improvement. Biggerstaff played basketball his freshman and sophomore years but took a break from the hardwood during his junior year.

“In the winter, if I had basketball, I really had no time to play, so then coming into the spring, it’s like you’re starting new again,” he said. “When I got to take that break from basketball, I got to continue to play in the winter, so then when practices started, I felt like I was already where I needed to be instead of trying to catch up.”

In the short-term, Biggerstaff feels like his game has only gotten better as the 2024 season has progressed. He admits his weak spots are chipping and iron play, but something has changed on those fronts recently. In fact, he shot the lowest round of his life last Wednesday — a 5-under 65 at River Valley Community Course.

“I didn’t show up expecting to shoot a 65. I really didn’t even show up expecting to shoot a 72, so I was pretty surprised,” Biggerstaff said. “I’ve started to get my irons figured out, and I started chipping better. I don’t know if that’s, ‘now I’m hitting my irons better, so I’m going to chip better,’ but I feel like my game has come together in the last few days, so I just want to work on mechanics and keep it there.”

Biggerstaff’s progression could be dangerous for the likes of Rust and Jenkins, fellow seniors who again will be competing for the state crown. Jenkins and Biggerstaff played both rounds together at state last year.

“He was super nice, super chill,” Biggerstaff said of Jenkins. “I honestly hope I get paired with him again this year. He was just a good person to play with, and he beat me, so there’s that.”

First and foremost, Biggerstaff has his eyes on winning a state title.

“About halfway through my sophomore season, I knew I probably wasn’t going to win that year, but that was the one thing left that I really wanted to do,” Biggerstaff said. “I really wanted to win a state title.”

He has also never made a hole-in-one. What better time for the first than on the final hole of a state championship, right?

“No. 18 is a par-3, so that would be a really cool way to finish,” Biggerstaff said.