Professional golfer Tommy Fleetwood and his wife, Clare, have a famously large age gap.
She is 23 years older than her husband. He is 34 years old, according to the PGA Tour.
Tommy Fleetwood was competing in the PGA Tour Championship on Aug. 24. and was first on the leaderboard.
Fleetwood’s wife admitted that, at first, the couple faced people who doubted their relationship. “People who were the doubters have redeemed themselves, let’s say, and admittedly doubted wrongly,” she said on the Performance People podcast.
Tommy Fleetwood said on that podcast that she brings a “calming side, that reality check. I’m hoping that she loves me. I feel that’s something we have. That happiness side of things. She’s very clever.” He said his wife judges situations better than he does.
She makes “good calls on things,” said Fleetwood.
Clare Fleetwood Said She Never Looked Back After Falling in Love With Tommy Fleetwood
Clare Fleetwood said that, over time, people saw the couple’s bond, and the criticism dissipated.
“I had full faith. Once we fell in love, that’s it,” she said. “We were in. It was just navigating through the gossip, basically. But it was quick ’cause people saw us and knew it meant something.”
At first, Clare Fleetwood shared those doubts, and she revealed on the podcast that she initially rejected Tommy Fleetwood’s overtures.
“We’ve got a 23-year age difference. Of course, I turned him down. I was like, ‘Don’t be stupid,’ ” Clare told the Performance People podcast.
According to People, the couple married in 2017. They met because Tommy’s brother, Joe, and Clare worked together at Hambric Sports Management.
Tommy Fleetwood brought up the early days of their relationship in a 2015 blog post he wrote for Golf Monthly.
“The other major change has been good too – a switch of management to Hambric Sports Group,” he wrote. “My brother, Joe, working at Hambric is obviously a big plus point, but I get on well with Clare Craig, too, who is vice-president of Europe. She’s always been around on Tour, and I’ve chatted to her a lot over the years.” T
