Local long-drive competitor earns berth to worlds

By Lethbridge Herald on September 22, 2022.

PHOTO SUBMITTED Sara Benson-Graham receiving her trophy after winning at the Amateur Long Drive Canada championships in Calgary.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge’s Sara Benson-Graham is taking her long-drive talents to Florida for worlds next month after winning the Amateur Long Drive Canada conference championships women’s open category in Calgary on Sunday.

Benson-Graham attended all the amateur Alberta series long-drive golf events and went undefeated in her rookie year.

Her long-bomb of 325 yards earned her a spot-on Team Canada for worlds in Florida from Oct-27-30.

Graham will hit on Oct. 28.

“It’s two sets of six and then from that they took the two longest balls from the whole pack and then put us together in the finals,” said Benson- Graham.

She also had drove of 312 and 314 in the championship.

Graham felt it was a pretty huge accomplishment.

“I kind of set it out as a goal,” she said.

“I don’t know, it was a pretty big goal but it feels really good.”

Her winning driver was with a Crank driver with a 48-inch-long drive shaft.

Graham has been golfing since she was a junior and entered her first ladies open competition when she was 12 years old and won that event.

“I was playing ladies league last year at Indian Hills and I just  had to just kind of decide where I should invest my golf budget,” said Benson-Graham.

“And just all the ladies at golf league  basically were like, ‘Holy crap ,I’ve never seen anybody hit it that far, like you should do long drive.’ So I went home after golf league one night and just googled Canada long drive and found a league and joined.”