For the third year in a row, the Lacoste Ladies Open de France proudly welcomes one of the most illustrious champions in French golf’s history: Patricia Meunier-Lebouc. One of only two Frenchwomen to ever win a Major title, she will bring her invaluable experience of former champion to the benefit of tournament organisers, and the players.
Patricia MEUNIER-LEBOUC
Nationality: French
Date of birth: 16 November 1972
Career: 1994-2008
Highest ranking: No. 14 in 2003 (LPGA Tour)
Date of arrival at Lacoste: 1994
Over a 14-year career, Patricia Meunier Lebouc not only became a leading figure of ladies golf in France, but also made a name for herself outside her country’s borders. 36 years after the historical victory of her countrywoman Catherine Lacoste in the 1967 US Women’s Open, she claimed the 2003 Kraft Nabisco Championship to become only the second French female golfer to win a major tournament. This success across the Atlantic ocean was the coronation of an already successful career, which started brilliantly on the Ladies European Tour (five wins between 1994 and 2000) and continued with equal success in the United States (two wins including the Kraft Nabisco), let alone two successful Solheim Cup campaigns in 2000 and 2003. Still living in Florida since her retirement in 2008, the Dijon native provides useful help to the young French players. As a national coach at the Fédération française de golf, she was a staff member of the French team which took the European Ladies Amateur Championship last July in Slovenia. She has also been appointed supervisor of the women’s program for golf’s return at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Roll of honour
2003: Kraft Nabisco Championship (LPGA Tour), Solheim Cup
2002: State Farm Classic (LPGA Tour)
2000: Open de France Dames, Ladies Austrian Open (LET), Solheim Cup
1998: Air France Madame Open (LET)
1997: Guardian Irish Open (LET)
1994: Waterford English Open (LET)