Golf has always been 1 of the constants in Abbie Lee’s life.
The sport appeals to her meticulous nature, the same way her career path in engineering and robotics does. It’s led her to more challenges and accomplishments— on and off the course—than she could have imagined growing up in Glasgow with mom, Kellie, as her coach and her dad, Jim, and brother, Max, as her biggest supporters.
“I’ve always been somebody who’s more of a perfectionist. I’ve always been a hard worker, and I enjoy the outdoors, so I kind of got to do all those things in 1 place,” Abbie says. “Golf just gave me the ability to spend time with my family and also work toward something I found fulfilling.”
Just before wrapping up her Middle Tennessee State University golf career at the Conference USA Championships, Abbie reflected on golf, family, recognition away from the game—including being a top 30 honoree for the 2025 NCAA Woman of the Year Award—and an injury that could have ended it all.
The Comeback
Abbie sprained her ankle in a pickup basketball game with teammates in January 2024 and ended up in the intensive care unit weeks later with life-threatening blood clots. The injury and ensuing recovery cost Abbie her junior season but also paved the way for some amazing moments.
“It really gave me a newfound perspective and appreciation for getting to do what I love,” she says. “I was able to go out and play free and have fun and then got a couple of wins. That transitioned into my senior season last year.”
Coming back in the summer of 2024 after a 6-month recovery, Abbie won both the Kentucky Women’s Amateur Stroke Play and Kentucky Women’s Amateur championships. Her strong play continued at MTSU that fall and carried over into her senior spring season, when she notched 4 top-10 finishes in a row, including 3 in the top 5. Her scoring average of 73.09 was the third-best in Blue Raiders’ history.
Abbie, who received a medical redshirt from the NCAA to play as a graduate student in 2025-26, not only put together a great final season on the golf course but also turned in a banner academic year. She graduated summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA and a degree in mechatronics engineering with a minor in mathematics.
She was the recipient of the President’s Award, a comprehensive honour recognising athletic achievement, community service, leadership and academics.
Abbie’s engineering team worked on a project to create MediMonitor, an automated pill dispenser for older individuals living with disabilities. MediMonitor won the People’s Choice Award at MTSU’s Senior Design Expo. “That was super fulfilling because we were able to work hard toward something that we were very proud of,” Abbie says.
Woman of The Year
The athletes included in the top 30 for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award were selected from a pool of 161 candidates nominated by their athletic conferences. Conference USA honoured Abbie for her athletic and academic performance, along with her community service efforts.
“Getting that recognition on a national level was mind-blowing to me and my family,” Abbie says. “It was 1 of those things that kind of felt like a Hail Mary. Being able to give back through community service and to play golf at MTSU and have a good year and then round things out academically, it was a cherry on top of a dream I’ve had my entire life, so I couldn’t be more grateful for that.”
Abbie finished her collegiate golf career in mid-April at the Conference USA Championship in Frisco, Texas, around 800 miles from where she started to play the game under the tutelage of Kellie, a former Western Kentucky golfer.
But Abbie isn’t done with MTSU. She expects to receive her MBA in December, and her career is already off to an entertaining start. She landed a job with a company that provides engineering and rigging for stage shows and concerts, helping to produce elaborate productions for Taylor Swift and others.
“Taylor Swift has signed things all over our office, so that’s always really cool to walk into work and do something that you love and enjoy,” Abbie says. “It’s been an awesome experience.”
That was the plan when Abbie arrived at MTSU—to marry those 2 dreams of becoming an engineer and also playing Division I golf.
“I’m very grateful for all the things that golf has provided me, and so I’m looking forward to doing something a little bit different,” she says. “But I still love the game and will continue to compete and stay sharp, and I’m excited to be a little bit more of a spark.”