It was a bittersweet moment for Tommy Fleetwood.
The English golfer finally secured his first PGA Tour win on Sunday at the Tour Championship, an emotional breakthrough worth $10 million. Surrounded by friends and fellow players, Fleetwood celebrated a victory years in the making.
On Sunday, Fleetwood finished with a 2-under 68, securing a three-shot win and the biggest title of his career.
The victory came after a summer of near-misses, where he let final-round leads slip away at both the Travelers Championship and the St. Jude Championship.
But one person was missing—his wife of eight years, Clare.
Instead of joining him at the course, Clare, 57, watched from home, according to the New York Post. She has previously admitted feeling self-conscious about the couple’s 23-year age gap and said the public attention sometimes leaves her feeling paranoid.
It sort of is and isn’t, she explained on the Performance People podcast in 2023, adding that the age gap felt like a bigger challenge in the early days of their relationship.
“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.”
The couple met in 2015 through Fleetwood’s brother, with Clare initially working as his agent before their relationship became romantic. They married in 2017, despite Clare’s early hesitation about their 23-year age gap.
Clare has two older children from a previous marriage and shares a young son, Frankie, with Fleetwood. The family lives together in the United Arab Emirates.
In addition to being his wife, Clare continues to manage Fleetwood’s golf career, a role she says allows her to understand every part of his professional and personal life.
“I know everything on every side – so there’s the sponsorship side, the logistics side, the PR side, the accounts side, everything,” Clare said.
“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.”
