Lacoste, Catherine (1945—)

French golfer. Name variations: Mme De Prado. Born in Paris, France, on June 27, 1945; daughter of Simone Thion de la Chaume (a professional golfer) and René Lacoste (the French tennis champion); married in August 1969.

Won the first Women's World Amateur Team championships; won the French Closed championship twice, the French Open three times and the British Amateur, and U.S. Amateur; won the U.S. Women's Open (1967); won the French, British, and U.S. amateur titles (1969).

Catherine Lacoste was born in Paris, France, in 1945 into a family of champions. Her mother Simone Thion de la Chaume was a golfer and the first outsider to win the British Amateur. Her father René Lacoste was a tennis champion who won both Wimbledon and U.S. championships. In 1964, when she was only 19 and a member of the French team, Lacoste won the first Women's World Amateur Team golf championship. Between 1966 and 1970, she won the French Closed golf championship twice, the French Open three times and the British Amateur, U.S. Amateur, and U.S. Women's Open.

In 1967, shooting 296, Catherine Lacoste startled the world of golf when she defeated America's finest by two strokes, winning the U.S. Women's Open. Along with Fay Crocker of Uruguay and Chako Higuchi of Japan, Lacoste is the only non-American to have ever won this event, and the first amateur. Lacoste then won the French, British, and U.S. amateur titles all in one year (1969).

Loewen Haag , Athens, Georgia