Clare Fleetwood recently attended the Ryder Cup to show her support for her husband, Tommy Fleetwood. This marks a rare public outing for Clare, who generally stays out of the spotlight due to critiques about their significant age difference.

Despite being 57 years old and 23 years older than Tommy, Clare was notably absent when her husband clinched his first PGA Tour victory last month. However, she was eager to cheer for Team Europe during the festivities in New York.

She was seen with Shane Lowry’s wife, Wendy Honner, at the Opening Ceremony at Bethpage Black. Both women, part of the European WAGs, wore coordinated white outfits and waved European flags to show their support.

In a 2023 interview on the Performance People podcast, Clare discussed the initial challenges their relationship faced due to public scrutiny: “It sort of was and wasn’t [a strain]. It was much more intense at the start,” she explained.

‘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.

Clare mentioned feeling somewhat anxious about being in the public eye, though her trust in their love was unwavering from the beginning.

Her absence during Tommy’s win at the Tour Championship in Atlanta was explained as being due to a health issue involving her 17-year-old son, Murray Craig, 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.”‘

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.’