Keeping Up With Former Women's Open, Amateur Champion Catherine Lacoste


March 30, 2005

Catherine Lacoste, the daughter of French tennis legend Rene Lacoste, became the first - and still the only - amateur to win the U.S. Women's Open when she won the title by two strokes in 1967 on the Cascades Course at Virginia Hot Springs Golf and Tennis Club in Hot Springs, Va.

Despite winning the Women's British Amateur that same year and the U.S. Women's Amateur in 1969, she never turned professional.

"[Winning the Women's Open] was certainly my major win," said Lacoste, who defeated Shelley Hamlin, 3 and 2, at Las Colinas Country Club in Irving, Texas to win the 1969 Women's Amateur. "Winning against the pros was very special."

Today Lacoste, a mother of four and grandmother of three, lives in Madrid, Spain, and divides time between her other homes in southern Spain and near Biarritz, France, where she has presided as president of Chantaco Golf Club for 30 years; at Chantaco, she also organizes the European Individual Seniors Championship for men and women.

Lacoste, 59, frequently travels to Paris, where she sits on the board of directors at La Chemise Lacoste, a fashion brand made famous by her father. She plays little golf these days, but still serves as France's team captain in the European Team Championship.

Story written by Lisa Mickey.