BEST LADY GOLFER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20917, 6 January 1930, Page 11

BEST LADY GOLFER.

ENGAGED TO RENE LACOSTE. CHAMPION WITH WILL-POWER. LEADERS IN REALM OF SPORT. The lawn tennis champion of France, M. Rene Lacoste, and Mile. Simone Thion de la Chaume, an ex-golf champion of France and of Britain, have become engaged. M. Lacoste is 24, bis finances four years younger. Both are members of families well-known in Paris, Rena's father being the head of a famous company of motor car manufacturers, and M. Thion de la Chaume being a banker. Both in their respective realms of sport have enjoyed a career, national and international, that is strangely identical. Twice victorious in the singles at Wimbledon (in 1925 and 1928), Lacoste was also the. first Frenchman to win the American championship, a title which he held in 1926 and 1927. It was the unbending will-power of Lacoste which ended the reign of W. T. Tilden. Coming within a stroke of success in the Davis Cup challenge round of 1925, he returned a year later, and on the same court and in the same event lowered Tilden's flag in a memorable four-set contest. This triumph paved the way for the capture of the Davis Cup by France in 1927—a challenge round in which Lacoste defeated both Tilden and Johnston.

This year he holds both the singles and double championships of. his own country—the former after overwhelming Tilden and by defeating Borotra, Cochet’s conqueror; the latter, with Borotra, after victories over Tilden and Hunter and Cochet and Brugnon. Business kept him away from Wimbledon, and illness (from which he has only recently recovered) from the Davis Cup challenge round.

Mile. Thion da la Chaume, the daughter of a Paris banker, is the beet lady golfer France has ever produced. Small, but of sturdy build, she is a vivacious young lady, who, by her charm of manner, has become an extremely popular and fascinating figure in golfing circles, both in Britain and America. Mile, de la Chaume first came into prominence when, as a girl of 10, she won the Girls’ Championship at Stoke Poges, beating in the final Miss Dorothy Pearson by 4 to 2.

It was at once recognised that in the French girl a new personality had arisen in the world of golf. In the four succeeding years she captured the French Ladies’ Close Championship, twice won the French Ladies’ Open, and crowned a brilliant series of achievements by winning the British Ladies’ Championship at Newcastle in 1927, .again, by an extraordinary coincidence, defeating Miss Pearson in the final.

In the attempt to establish a unique record as a triple champion—Britain, France, and the United States—Mile, de la Chaume went to America, hut success did not come her way. Her reign as British champion came to an end when Miss Qlenna Collett, the American, beat her at Hunstanton; but Mile, de la Chaume derived satisfaction from the. fact that France still retained the championship, her closest friend, Mile. Nanette le Blan, of Lille, creating a, surprise by carrying off the title. A romance followed her victory, for a few months later she married Mile, de la Chaume’s brother. Owing to illness. Mile, de la Chaume did not compete in this year’s championship at St. Andrew’s. Besides being a first-class golfer she plays squash, swims, and is a fine horsewoman. Her records at golf Include a 72 at St. Jean de Luz and a 74 at Le-Toquet.