Catherine Lacoste, the daughter of tennis great René Lacoste, winner of two Wimbledon championships and two U.S. Opens besides being the founder of the famous Lacoste apparel brand, has done more than you would believe possible in her first 80 years. Typically, she has things arranged for as far ahead as 2031.
In 1967, as a 22-year-old amateur, Lacoste came from nowhere to defeat the best of the LPGA’s women professionals and make off with the U.S. Women’s Open trophy at The Homestead in Virginia. That done, she spent 1968 and ’69 winning the French, Spanish, British and U.S. women’s amateurs before retiring from tournament golf, save for occasional appearances close to home. She had woken up one morning and asked herself, “What more am I meant to do?”
Roughly the equivalent of “Been there, done that.”
Her next moves were to get married, have four children and lay down her clubs in favour of a guitar.
That Catherine has always said what she thinks and done things her way might not necessarily have met with all-round approval. But to her friends, she has always come across as friendly, funny and the opposite of boastful.
As for her fame, who will ever forget that line she delivered on the day after her U.S. Women’s Open victory. “Finally, I am someone myself, not just the daughter of the Lacostes.”