Clare Fleetwood made an appearance to support her husband Tommy at the Ryder Cup on Wednesday, after previously opting to stay out of the limelight to avoid criticism over their age-gap romance.
The 57-year-old was conspicuous by her absence when Fleetwood – 23 years her junior – finally sealed his first win on the PGA Tour last month, but nothing was stopping her from cheering on Team Europe as festivities got underway in New York.
Clare was spotted alongside Shane Lowry’s wife Wendy Honner at the Opening Ceremony at Bethpage Black, with the European WAGs in matching white outfits and waving European flags to support their men.
There had been talk over whether Fleetwood’s wife would skip the trip to this year’s Ryder Cup, after previously admitting to feeling ‘paranoid’ over fans’ comments about their marriage.
Speaking in 2023, she opened up on the scrutiny that initially put a strain on their relationship: ‘It kind of is and isn’t. I mean it was way more at the beginning,’ she said on the Performance People podcast.
‘It was kind of not actually for us, but it was just again thinking what other people are thinking about all the time and within the industry.
‘It was kind of big news in our circle, so I was a little bit paranoid about all that, really. But not for any reason of our relationship, and I had full faith once we fell in love.’
Clare’s absence at Tommy’s Tour Championship win in Atlanta was later revealed to be down to a health scare for their 17-year-old Murray Craig, her son from her previous marriage.
‘Our middle boy, Mo, had a spinal operation just over a month ago now so my family were unable to travel,’ the golf star later revealed to the media, after getting the nod of approval from his wife.
‘They actually just got home before we got home. He had three and a half weeks in the hospital.’
Fleetwood, meanwhile, was first introduced to his now-wife in 2015, through his brother.
Clare initially served as Fleetwood’s agent before the pair began a romantic relationship, and they tied the knot two years later.
The couple, who have lived in the United Arab Emirates since 2022, have a son together called Frankie, while Clare has two older children from a previous relationship.
‘We’ve got a 23-year age difference,’ she said when explaining why she turned him down in the early stages of their romance.
‘Of course, I turned him down. I was like, “Don’t be stupid.”‘
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But Fleetwood ultimately won his future wife around with persistence.
He said: ‘Well, she just eventually gave in, I think, and thought, “I’ll just give him some time. I’ll give him the time of day and then we’ll go from there.” I didn’t mess up.’
Clare continues to manage her husband’s sporting career and says this gives her a full understanding of the man she shares her life with.
‘I know everything on every side – so there’s the sponsorship side, the logistics side, the PR side, the accounts side, everything,’ she elaborated.
‘Maybe sometimes too much, you know, because then that’s all I think about sometimes, but that’s just the different dynamic.
‘I look at one question – it might have 15 answers for me. Do you know what I mean? It’s a little bit more complicated for me because I see things, you know, like, are we going to live?
‘I don’t see it as a lifestyle choice necessarily, I’ll look at it as a business choice as well.’
In an interview with The Times, Fleetwood lifted the lid on their shared working-class backgrounds and the affinity it has given them.
‘We share a very northern sense of humor,’ he said.
‘We’re both from working-class backgrounds – when you look at our parents they brought us up in a similar fashion, whether it be in terms of kindness or toughness or wanting to be the best you can be.’
