By Nate Allen
Special to the News-Times
FAYETTEVILLE - Her hometown is listed Buckeye, Ariz., and the first college for which she played golf is UNLV.
But for coach Shauna Taylor’s SEC champion/Austin Regional champion Razorbacks, Kaylee Benton by far is Arkansas’ Arkie among the five players representing the nationally No. 3 team at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship starting today at the Karsten Creek course in Stillwater, Okla.
Benton did much of her growing up in Cabot and has Razorbacks blood coursing her veins as the great-granddaughter of the late 1937 Razorbacks football All-American Jim Benton.
“I lived in Cabot from third grade through ninth grade,” Kaylee said. “So quite a few years before we moved to Arizona."
Did she know her great-grandfather, inducted into the UA’s Sports Hall of Honor in 1989, just the second year of is existence?
“I did when I was really young,” Kaylee said. “He passed away before I was six.”
So most her memories must have been handed down.
“I didn’t spend a lot of time with him,” Kaylee said. “But definitely some memories from my dad that he was a great guy and really funny and a very dedicated athlete and very dedicated to his family and a guy that I model myself after and try and be like. It was a big deal for me picking Arkansas that he was a legend here and hopefully I’ll continue the Benton legacy.”
She already has.
For in the match play against South Carolina ultimately determining the five-day SEC Tournament, it came down to Kaylee’s match winning the Razorbacks women their first SEC championship in program history on April 22 in Birmingham, Ala.
“It was really cool,” Benton said. “It was a team effort that day, but to have it come down to my match, it was nice to be able to pull through for the team. Something I’ll always remember.”
Just like these Maria Fassi-led Razorbacks, second after a playoff for SEC individual medalist and the individual winner of the Austin Region, Benton didn’t let the long sought SEC team championship be the climax of her season. She tied with teammate Alana Uriell for fourth with teammate Dylan Kim third, at the Austin Regional that Arkansas won at 26-under-par by 11 strokes, humbling host team runner-up Texas.
Benton and the Razorbacks don’t intend the bandwagon stopping at Austin.
“We definitely haven’t reached the climax yet,” Benton said.
“Hopefully this week we will. We are all playing the best golf we have all year and are prepared and the team is doing great together and I’m really excited.”
They should be and Benton should be, Taylor said.
“Kaylee did awesome,” Taylor said of her performances at the SEC and Austin Regionals.
“I think that (clinching the SEC championship) just gave her a little boost of confidence. She finished fourth at regionals and she just qualified for the U.S. Open. Success breeds confidence, so I think Kaylee's in a very good place right now.”
Benton in the midst of prepping for college golf’s national championships qualified in Dallas this week for the U.S. Open as did Fassi and Kim.
“It’s always been a dream of mine,” Benton said.
“I just can’t explain how excited I am. It’s really a dream come true. I’ve never played in an LPGA event. I get to play in a major and it’s just unreal.”
But nothing is more major for her and this team than what transpires in Stillwater.
“This is probably the best team chemistry that I’ve ever had on a team,” Benton said.
“We’re basically a family and do everything together. We get along so well and truly want the best for everybody which is kind of hard to find on a very competitive team. We are in it together and we fight for each other and it all comes together.”
Benton says she “loves it” at Arkansas including her academics “making almost A’s” as a finance major at the Walton School of Business.
Does it make her wonder about her decision first to choose UNLV (closer to her Arizona home) before transferring?
“For sure,” Benton said. “But it was a necessary stage in my development. I learned a lot my freshman year and it led me here. It all happened for a reason.”
Her great grandfather would be proud.