The University of Mississippi Athletics
Senior Bentley Excited For Final Spring Season
2/9/2017 | Women's Golf
Madisen Bentley is just days away from starting her final spring season with Ole Miss women's golf, but the senior isn't quite ready to be sentimental about her time in Oxford.
Instead, she's focused on making even more memories this spring.
"I don't like to think about it that way, because I think it's more of a negative way to look at it," Bentley said. "I'm just trying to really enjoy it instead of being sad. Everything we get to do as golfers for Ole Miss is a great opportunity and something I really appreciate. It's a little nostalgic, but I'm really excited for everything we have coming for the spring and excited to see what happens."
The Rebels have plenty to be excited about going into the spring. They're quietly having one of the best seasons in school history-something Bentley certainly appreciates after going through six coaches in her collegiate career, starting with the one who recruited her at Portland State to now playing under Kory Henkes and Drew Belt.
After one year playing close to home in the Pacific Northwest, Bentley set her sights on playing golf in the Southeastern Conference, a decision she's glad she made. And the move has helped her to grow on and off the course.
"I think I'm a different person from when I came in here," Bentley said. "From the person I transferred as to now, I've had a lot of life experiences and life lessons that have taught me and helped me grow into the person I am, and I'm still learning every day and working on what I can do better to be the person I need to be."
As Bentley has grown, so have the Rebels. Ole Miss is shooting an average single-round team score of 294, putting the squad on pace to smash the school record, which stands at 300.71 from the 2008-09 season. They'll have to close strong over a tough spring slate to keep that score low, but Bentley is confident in what the team can do in the coming weeks.
"I love the dynamic on our team right now," she said. "We're all excited to work hard and really give our all. Even when it doesn't go our way, we're ok. We take it to the next day and get better."
Bentley has traveled to three of four tournaments so far this season, her best performance coming in the Lady Paladin Invitational in September. She led the Rebels with a strong three-day performance of 73-71-73--217, tying her for the second-best tournament score on the team so far in 2016-17.
Much of Ole Miss' success has come thanks to the hard work put in by Bentley and her teammates on a daily basis, and it's a direct reflection on the culture instilled by Henkes and Belt over the past two seasons.
"I appreciate everything Kory and Drew do, because they really do care about this program and they do care about the dynamic and everything that effects the team," Bentley said. "They want us to be successful and they want us to be our best."
That mentality has spread throughout the locker room-and it's also the reason Bentley can't wait to add more memories in her final spring season as a Rebel.
"We just have fun in everything we do, whether it's waking up at 6 a.m. for workouts or traveling until 1 a.m. and getting back to Oxford late. We just have fun no matter what we're doing. This team is really good at looking at the positives in situations instead of complaining or giving up," Bentley said. "I think my senior year is going to be the thing that I remember most because of how close our team is and the camaraderie we have."
For all Ole Miss women's golf news and information, go to OleMissSports.com, and follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissWGolf and Facebook at Ole Miss Women's Golf.
