Ryder Cup star’s wife repeatedly turned him down due to 23-year age gap but now they’re ‘pioneers’

TOMMY FLEETWOOD once described him and his wife Clare as “pioneers” when asked about the couple’s 23-year age gap.

Tommy, 32, and wife Clare, 55, met in 2015 when she approached him to be his agent.

GettyTommy and his wife began working together in 2015[/caption]

GettyThey began dating soonafter, despite Clare knocking back Tommy’s initial approaches[/caption]

PABut Tommy says it didn’t take long for the pair to fall in love[/caption]

GettyThe pair tied the knot in 2017[/caption]

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Clare is a well known name in the sports agency world, with her initial speciality being in motorsport.

But in 2015, her company Hambric Sports Management began expanding its golf roster and the two met in a professional setting.

Speaking in 2015 when Clare began representing him as his manager, Tommy told Golf Monthly: “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.”

Once Clare became Tommy’s manager, he said it only took a matter of months for the two to fall in love.

He said in a January interview with The Times: “We spent more and more time together and it just so happens we fell in love.”

On how long it took he said: “Not long, just months. We already had such a strong connection and the extra time spent together just tipped us over the edge.”

But that wasn’t without Clare knocking back Tommy’s first few initial approaches.

Clare said she turned Tommy down the first few times, citing the age gap, she said: “We’ve got a 23-year age difference. Of course, I turned him down. I was like, ‘Don’t be stupid’”

But after Tommy asked her out again she said she “eventually gave in” and the two started dating.

Clare initially planned to give up her management role after the two began a relationship, but after giving it six months to see how her management would affect things, the two decided she would continue to represent him.

Tommy told the Performance People Podcast in May 2023: “As we were sat there listening to different proposals, I’m like I can do this… but I just for some reason at the beginning thought I couldn’t and I shouldn’t.

“Then we gave it six months, and it worked, so we carried on.”

The two would go on to wed in 2017 in the Bahamas and three months later had their son, Franklin.

Speaking on the age-gap, Fleetwood told The Times: “Oh, we definitely get comments. But it’s never been a thing to us. Clare actually looks very young for her age and I look old — it’s probably all that sun. She’s incredibly cool and I’m not cool at all, though I am quite mature for my age.

When interviewer Julia Llewellyn Smith suggested that eyebrows would not have been raised as much if the sexes were reversed, Fleetwood said: “Exactly!”.

When asked what unites the two the most, Fleetwood said: “We share a very northern sense of humour. 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.”

AFP or licensorsThey had their first kid together three months after tying the knot[/caption]

GettyAnd the age difference does not bother the couple[/caption]

The two manage to balance being a couple and Clare managing TommyGetty Images – Getty