On Feb. 15, junior Sarah Lim announced her verbal commitment to play D1 golf at Princeton University. After months of the recruitment process and visiting Ivy League schools, Princeton was Lim’s first choice school to attend along with her first offer.
“As soon as I visited Princeton, I knew I wanted to be there,” Lim said. “I know some of the golf players and it just clicked when I talked to them.”
Last year, Lim finished top five in eight competitions and finished top 10 in 10 competitions. Some of her most notable competitions are placing first in Notah Begay Washington Regional, first in JTNC Championship at Poppy Hills and second in AJGA Big Sky. Additionally, Lim is ranked 167 in AJGA Rolex Rankings for girls.
After a long process of visiting Ivy League schools and reaching out to coaches, Lim received a verbal offer from Princeton University’s golf coach on Jan. 31 to support her through her application process to Princeton.
“I was really excited when I heard the offer, since Princeton is my first choice school,” Lim said. “Afterwards, I texted my mom and coach, and they were really happy.”
Lim started playing golf in sixth grade with encouragement from her father, and began competing in tournaments in eighth grade. Since then, Lim has had a goal to get recruited and play in college.
“Golf is a frustrating sport sometimes and needs a lot of patience, so when I perform well, the sense of achievement is really rewarding,” Lim said.
During the summer of 2022, Lim started reaching out and talking to coaches from different colleges. Typically, the tournament locations are far away from colleges, so only a few college coaches would show up to watch. For Lim, the college coaches noticed her trajectory of improvement throughout her competitions, and having a string of some strong finishes last summer helped the recruiting process for her.
In the fall of 2023, Lim started touring colleges she was interested in to narrow down her choices. While she was deciding between a few other Ivy League colleges, Lim said she found a stronger connection with the D1 golf team at Princeton, as she also knows a senior who is attending Princeton next year for golf and looks forward to playing the team. After talking the offer over with her parents and coach, Lim announced her verbal commitment on Instagram on Feb. 15.
“I’m really excited to be playing on a team,” Lim said. “Right now I’ve been playing individually, and I look forward to playing at Princeton.”