Simone Thion de la Chaume (24 November 1908 – 4 September 2001) was a French amateur golfer. In 1924, she became the first foreign player to win the

Girls Amateur Championship The Girls Amateur Championship is a golf tournament held annually in the United Kingdom. Girls need to be under 18 on 1 January in the year of the championship. Until World War II the championship was organised by a series of magazines and always ...

and in 1927 the first to win the

British Ladies Amateur The Women's Amateur Championship, previously known as the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship, was founded in 1893 by the Ladies' Golf Union. It is organised by The R&A, which merged with the Ladies' Golf Union in 2017. Until the dawn of th ...

, then the most prestigious tournament in British and European ladies' golf and an event her daughter,

Catherine Lacoste Catherine Lacoste (born 27 June 1945) is a French amateur golfer and the only player who has won the U.S. Women's Open as an amateur. Early life She was born and grew up in Paris, France, with her parents, René Lacoste and Simone de la Chaume a ...

, would also win 42 years later. At the 1927

U.S. Women's Amateur The U.S. Women's Amateur is the leading golf tournament in the United States for female amateur golfers. It is played annually and is one of the 13 United States national golf championships organized by the United States Golf Association (USGA). F ...

, she lost in the third round to former three-time champion,

Alexa Stirling Alexa Stirling Fraser (September 5, 1897 – April 15, 1977) was an American-Canadian amateur golfer. She won the U.S. Women's Amateur golf championship in 1916, 1919, and 1920. She also won the Canadian Women's Amateur title in 1920 and 1934. ...

. While attending a

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

match, Simone de la Chaume met the French

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

star

René Lacoste Jean René Lacoste was a French people, French tennis player and businessman. He was nicknamed "the Crocodile" because of how he dealt with his opponents; he is also known worldwide as the creator of the Lacoste polo shirt, tennis shirt, which h ...

. They married in 1929 and had three sons and a daughter. The Lacostes would go on to form the

Lacoste Lacoste S.A. is a French company, founded in 1933 by tennis player René Lacoste, and entrepreneur Mangkha. It sells clothing, footwear, sportswear, eyewear, leather goods, perfume, towels and watches. The company can be recognised by its gree ...

company and build a sportswear empire. They also founded the Golf de Chantaco club in

Saint-Jean-de-Luz Saint-Jean-de-Luz (; eu, Donibane Lohitzune,Donibane Lohitzune
Auñamendi Ency ...

in the

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; eu, Pirinio Atlantiarrak or ) is a department in the southwest corner of France and of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Pyrenees mountain range and the Atlanti ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

of France near

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. ...

. Simone Lacoste died in

Saint-Jean-de-Luz Saint-Jean-de-Luz (; eu, Donibane Lohitzune,Donibane Lohitzune
Auñamendi Ency ...

in 2001.

Principal victories

* 1924:

* 1927:

* 1930, 1935, 1938, 1939: French International Ladies Golf Championship * 1936, 1937, 1939: French Ladies National Championship

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaume, Simone French female golfers Amateur golfers Winners of ladies' major amateur golf championships 1908 births 2001 deaths 20th-century French women