Marie-Laure de Lorenzi

Marie-Laure de Lorenzi
Personal information
Born (1961-01-21) 21 January 1961 (age 64)
Biarritz, France
Height1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Sporting nationality France
ResidenceBarcelona, Spain
Career
Turned professional1986
Former tour(s)Ladies European Tour (1987–2004)
Professional wins21
Number of wins by tour
Ladies European Tour19 (3rd all-time)
Best results in LPGA major championships
Chevron ChampionshipT48: 1989
Women's PGA C'shipDNP
U.S. Women's OpenT11: 1989
du Maurier ClassicDNP
Women's British OpenDNP
Achievements and awards
Ladies European Tour
Order of Merit		1988, 1989
Vivian Saunders Trophy
LET Stroke Average Award[1]		1996, 1997

Marie-Laure de Lorenzi (born 21 January 1961, in Biarritz) is a French professional golfer, also known by her married name Marie-Laure Taya.[2] She won 19 tournaments in a span of eleven seasons on the Ladies European Tour, putting her third, later tied third, on the all-time list of number of wins on the tour.

Amateur career

De Lorenzi played for her country in the European Lady Junior's Team Championship, for players up to the age of 21, from she was 14 years old in 1975 until 1982 and was on the winning team in 1979. She won individually in 1981.[3][4][5][6][7]

She also represented her country four times at the European Ladies' Team Championship[8][9][10][11] and four times at the Espirito Santo Trophy.[12]

Professional career

De Lorenzi joined the Ladies European Tour in 1987 and won the Order of Merit in 1988 and 1989. In those two years, when she led the rankings, she finished first or second 17 times, when the tour schedules included 46 individual tournaments over the two seasons. That means that she finished first or second in 37% of all scheduled tournaments over two full seasons on the tour.

She finished third, after tying the lead after the third round, at the 1989 Women's British Open Championship,[13] before it was permanently co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour in 1994 and regarded as a major championship by the LPGA in 2001. The same year, de Lorenzi finished tied 11h at the 1989 U.S. Women's Open at Indianwood G&CC north of Detroit, Michigan, which came to be her best finish in a major championship.

She became a life time member of the Ladies European Tour, having accumulated 19 tournament victories on it.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]

As of 2024, she was tied third with Trish Johnson, after Laura Davies and Dale Reid, on the all-time list of number of wins on the Ladies European Tour.

During her career, de Lorenzi became, and as of 2024 still was, record holder of most wins in a single season, with seven wins in 1988.[15] She also became the record holder of most consecutive wins back-to-back, with 3 wins in three consecutive scheduled tournaments in 1989,[16] when she lost in a playoff in the fourth tournament.

She played for Europe in the first Solheim Cup, which took place in 1990, and was also a member of the European team in 1996 and 1998. She was invited by captain Micky Walker, to be reserve on site for the European team at the 1994 Solheim Cup in late October at The Greenbrier, West Virginia, United States, but decided to decline, due to lost confidence. However, de Lorenzi won the Spanish Open three weeks ahead of the team match.[21]

She was assistant captain of the European Solheim Cup team in 2007.

De Lorenzi announced her retirement from tournament golf in 2004.

Private life

She competed using her married name Marie-Laure Taya from 1986 until midway through 1989 when she changed to Marie-Laure de Lorenzi-Taya. After her divorce from former Spanish amateur champion Roman Taya, she reverted to her maiden name in 1990.[22]

She has represented Paris International Golf Club, but lived in Barcelona, Spain with her daughter Laura and enjoyed tennis, jazz, antiques and swimming.[21]

Amateur wins

Source:[23]

Professional wins (21)

Ladies European Tour wins (19)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 14 Jun 1987 Belgian Ladies Godiva Open[24] −7 (72-71-70-72=285) 2 strokes England Trish Johnson
United States Susan Moon
2 9 Aug 1987 BMW Ladies' German Open[25] −13 (70-70-65-70=275) 5 strokes Scotland Dale Reid
3 12 Jun 1988 Letting French Open[26][27] −2 (71-72-75-72=290) Playoff France Caroline Bourtayre (amateur)
4 19 Jun 1988 Volmac Dutch Open[28][29][30] +7 (75-74-72-74=295) 1 stroke England Kitrina Douglas
5 10 Jul 1988 Hennessy Ladies Cup[31][32] −4 (75-72-66-71=284) 1 stroke England Alison Nicholas
6 21 Aug 1988 Gothenburg Ladies Open[33][34] −9 (70-70-69-66=275) 3 strokes United States Peggy Conley
7 9 Oct 1988 Laing Charity Classic[35][36] −16 (67-67-69=203) 7 strokes England Caroline Griffiths
8 30 Oct 1988 Woolmark Ladies' Matchplay[37][38] 4 and 2 England Alison Nicholas
9 3 Nov 1988 Qualitair Spanish Open[39][40] −12 (207) 4 strokes France Corinne Soules
10 30 Apr 1989 Ford Ladies' Classic[41] −10 (286) 8 stroke Scotland Gillian Stewart
11 28 May 1989 Hennessy Ladies Cup[42] −9 (279) 2 strokes Australia Corinne Dibnah
United States Jody Rosenthal
12 11 Jun 1989 BMW Ladies Classic[43] −11 (277) 1 stroke Australia Dennise Hutton
13 29 Apr 1990 Ford Ladies' Classic[44][45] −12 (74-72-68-70=284) 3 strokes South Africa Laurette Maritz
14 24 Oct 1993 VAR Open de France Feminin[46][47] +4 (72-79-69=220) 1 stroke Italy Federica Dassù
Denmark Karina Orum
15 2 Oct 1994 La Manga Spanish Open[48][49] −6 (71-72-68-71=282) Playoff Sweden Sofia Grönberg-Whitmore
16 13 May 1995 Costa Azul Ladies Open[50] −11 (72-67-66=205) 2 strokes Switzerland Evelyn Orley
17 17 Sep 1995 Staatsloterij Ladies Open[51][52] −18 (67-66-68=201) 9 strokes England Lora Fairclough
18 15 Oct 1995 Nestlé French Ladies Open[53] −9 (71-68-71=210) 10 strokes Scotland Kathryn Marshall
England Alison Nicholas
England Sally Prosser
19 15 Jun 1997 Déesse Ladies' Swiss Open[54][55] −8 (72-68-70-70=280) Playoff England Trish Johnson

Ladies European Tour playoff record (3–4)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1988 Letting French Open France Caroline Bourtayre (amateur) Won on fourth extra hole.
2 1989 Open de France Dames[56][57] England Suzanne Strudwick Lost to birdie at first extra hole.
3 1989 Danish Ladies Open[58][59] Spain Tania Abitbol Lost to par at third extra hole.
4 1989 Godiva Ladies European Masters[60][61] England Kitrina Douglas Lost to par at second extra hole.
5 1991 Hennessy Ladies Cup[62] Sweden Helen Alfredsson
Australia Corinne Dibnah 		Lost. Eliminated to par on first extra hole.
Alfredsson won with birdie on third extra hole.
6 1994 La Manga Spanish Open Sweden Sofia Grönberg-Whitmore Won on second extra hole.
7 1997 Déesse Ladies' Swiss Open England Trish Johnson Won with birdie at first extra hole

Other wins (2)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 1988 Benson & Hedges Trophy^ (team with Zimbabwe Mark McNulty)[63][64] −12 (276) 1 stroke Spain José María Cañizares and Spain Tania Abitbol
2 1993 Lalla Meryem Cup

^ Mixed pairs unofficial money event on the European Tour and Ladies European Tour.[65]

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References

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  4. ^ Montgomery, Barbro (August 1978). "Europamästare! "Tacka Thure för första fullträffen", JEM i siffror" [European Champions! "Thank Thure for the first win", European Lady Junior's Team Championship in numbers]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 6/1978. pp. 56–57. Retrieved 2022-12-23.
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