Peer-voted honor recognizes heart and character, and comes with a $5,000 donation from Epson
Carley Cox Pruette has spent this season balancing life on the road with some of the hardest news her family has ever faced. At the 2026 Epson Tour Championship, her fellow players recognized her for the strength and grace she showed through it, naming her the recipient of the Heather Wilbur Spirit Award.
The Heather Wilbur Spirit Award is voted on by players and honors heart and character rather than performance. Epson donates $5,000 to the award recipient.
“I was definitely humbled and also honored,” Cox Pruette said. “To have your peers vote on something and view you in a positive light was really touching. It was definitely unexpected, but very humbling.”
A Tight-Knit Family, a Tough Year
Family has always been at the center of Cox Pruette’s life. She is lucky enough to still have all four of her grandparents, and they all live close to one another. It was her mom’s dad who introduced her to golf, a bond the two have shared ever since.
“He’s been one of my biggest fans,” she said.
Earlier this year, he was diagnosed with kidney and prostate cancers. He recently underwent surgery that went well, though a long recovery road remains. Along the way, he also fell, breaking his knee and tearing his meniscus. Weeks ago, her dad’s dad suffered a stroke.
With her mom serving as her grandfather’s full-time caretaker, Cox Pruette also lost her caddie and travel buddy. “A lot of changes happened at once,” she said. “The road became a little bit lonelier.”
“It’s tough to be on the road away from them during a time like that,” she added. “Just a lot of medical stuff and losing my travel buddy as well.”
Golf Through It All
On the course, the weight of home was never far away. “I would tell myself I wasn’t letting the noise at home bother me, but I think it was just there,” she said. “It’s hard not to think about everybody and feel a little bit helpless, like you’re not physically there.”
To find balance, she made choices she wouldn’t have in years past, taking two events off, one for a family vacation and one for a friend’s wedding. “I put a little bit of my personal life ahead of golf at times,” she said. “I wouldn’t have probably done that years past, because missing a week out here is pretty crucial.”
The season, she said, was a reminder of what matters most. “The two most important things in my life are my family and my faith,” Cox Pruette said. “Golf will always be here in some form or fashion, but those are the things that really matter at the end of the day.”
Faith and Community
Through the uncertainty, Cox Pruette leaned on her faith. “Jesus is my one constant, and to have a constant among things that are uncertain is always so comforting to come back to,” she said.
She also pointed to the Epson Tour community, including a fellowship group on tour that checked in, prayed with her and let her share her struggles. Players and staff alike checked in week after week.
“Everyone out here cares about you beyond the golf course,” she said. “Checking in on me is something I will never forget.”
A Grateful Heart Posture
Cox Pruette is candid that the mindset behind the Spirit Award has not always come easily. When things were not going her way on the course or at home, it was easy to focus on the negative. What helped, she said, was reframing.
“Really just trying to reframe into a grateful heart posture helped me shift from the negatives and focus on what a blessing it is to be out here and doing what I love,” she said.
Her advice to other players working through their own hard seasons is simple. “I think everyone’s going through something in their personal life. My story is not unique in that sense,” she said. “Even in the tough seasons, there are blessings. You just might have to look a little bit harder for them.”
She hopes others take one thing from her story: the value of leaning on your people, and for her, her faith, which she said “will pretty much be able to get you through anything.”
The Heather Wilbur Spirit Award, along with Epson’s $5,000 donation to the recipient, is a fitting recognition for a player whose peers saw in her exactly what the award celebrates.
