European Tour Media Relations Co-ordinator Kate Wright died yesterday (August 18) following a two-year battle with cancer.
Kate, 36 was a hugely popular figure among her fellow workers at the European Tour, as well as among the players, journalists and broadcasters she worked with in media centres around the world during her 12-year career with the European Tour.
Known affectionately as ‘Wrighty’, Kate was an accomplished golfer at Leighton Buzzard Golf Club in Bedfordshire, where she was coached as a youngster by Ian Poulter.
After graduating from Staffordshire University with a BA Hons in Journalism, Kate initially worked in cricket, another sport she had a passion for, taking the role of Media Relations Assistant for England & Wales Cricket Board in 2006, before joining the European Tour’s Media Department in January 2008.
She quickly became a familiar and popular face in media centres as the main point of contact for all accredited international media and broadcasters and, through her role, helping to co-ordinate European Tour press conferences.
Kate was also an integral part of the media centre teams at both the 2010 and 2014 Ryder Cups in Wales and Scotland, and she was in the process of preparing for the 2018 Ryder Cup when she was diagnosed with cancer just a couple of weeks before she was due to travel to Le Golf National.
Despite approaching that battle with the determination she was renowned for, Kate sadly passed away this morning at her family home in Great Brickhill with her parents Brian and Sue by her side.
Scott Crockett, the European Tour’s Director of Communications, said: “The European Tour is a sad place today. We celebrate the fact that we are one family here at Wentworth, but we lost a beloved member of that family this morning. Kate was a unique individual. Unfazed by anything thrown at her, unbridled in her passion for all sport, but unequivocal in her love of golf. She absolutely loved Tour life and Tour life absolutely loved her. Our department meetings and media centres will never quite be the same again.”
Martin Dempster, Chairman of the Association of Golf Writers, said: “Through covering golf, we are lucky to come across some special people and Kate – or “Wrighty” as she was called by many of us – was certainly in that category.
“From the moment you first met her, you could just sense her passion for life but sport in particular and it was a sheer joy to be in her company in media centres on the European Tour. Nothing was too much trouble for “Wrighty” if you needed some assistance and she always had a smile on her face. Kate has been taken way too early, but she will never be forgotten by her friends in the AGW.”