Women's Golf: Aboff to travel south for Regionals

More impressively, Aboff qualified for the NCAA East Regional Tournament. Last season, the selection committee snubbed Aboff after she fired a career-best 65 in the Ivy League Championship.

Aboff secured the sole Ivy League individual berth and will journey south to the Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville, Fla. Though the Ivy League champion Crimson received an automatic bid for the Central Regional Qualifier, individuals from the Ancient Eight have not had great success with the selection committee.

Looking at the field, which has 21 qualifying teams and two other individu al at-large qualifiers, the competition will be fierce. After winning the Ivy League title by five strokes, Aboff will approach the regional qualifier with quiet confidence. And one key to success in major golf tournaments is maintaining composure.

“I am going to be sure to not get too wrapped up in the high caliber of the field,” Aboff said. “I have played many of these girls before, and I am going to play to my strengths and not get too worried about what the players around me are doing.”

Always a superlative ball striker, Aboff should be successful if she is able to keep her short game in check. Throughout this season, Aboff has greatly cut down on careless mistakes and can play a higher percentage game.

“She has learned how to work her way around the golf course. One of the most important keys to being a successful golfer is learning to manage your game,” head coach Amy Bond said. “She knows that even when she hits the ball poorly, she can still score.”

Ranked 130th in the country by golfweek.com, Aboff is more than capable of qualifying for the NCAA championship. As an individual qualifier, Aboff must place in the top two among all golfers whose teams did not finish in the top eight.

“I think Susannah has a great chance to qualify for the NCAA championship,” Bond said. “The weather will be nice and hot, and I believe that this course sets up great for Susannah’s game. There will be some great players participating, and Sus has waited four years to experience an NCAA Regional.”

While her final Ivy League appearance was a resounding success, Aboff is now looking forward to participating on a grander stage. As Aboff aspires to be a professional golfer, the experience of the NCAA Championships would be a significant stepping stone.

“Success at the East regional would be wonderful, as this will be my first time getting a chance to compete,” Aboff said. “I would love to be able to continue on to Nationals and represent the Ivy League. Hopefully I can play well enough to make it happen.”

Despite her many individual successes in her time at Princeton, Aboff reflected first upon team achievements when considering her collegiate career.

“There are a definitely a few moments from college golf that will stick with me forever,” Aboff said. “I will never forget when our golf team broke the school record at the [Princeton Invitational] in 2006. It was the first tournament with our new coach [Bond], which made it that much more exciting.”

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

By posting the top number in the Ivy League Championship, Aboff joined an impressive list of Tigers who have accomplished the same feat. Princeton women have garnered eight of the past 13 individual medals. Aboff also became the third repeat champion in Princeton women’s golf history.

“Susannah’s Ivy League title means a great deal because it is her second Ivy championship in a row,” Bond said. “There are only a small number of players who have ever repeated as conference champions. That is something to be proud of.”