Tommy Fleetwood has been in excellent form at the Ryder Cup despite cruel comments from the crowd about wife Clare, who he insists is anything but a stereotypical WAG
Ryder Cup sensation Tommy Fleetwood previously summed up his wife Clare with a comment about her rejecting the celebrity lifestyle. Fleetwood has won all four of his matches at Bethpage Black and will be eager to conclude the Ryder Cup with an unblemished 5-0 record as Team Europe edge closer to an away victory.
The English golfer, 34, started by triumphing in his foursomes clash alongside Rory McIlroy on Friday before partnering with Justin Rose to claim another point in their fourballs encounter against Bryson DeChambeau and Ben Griffin. He maintained his brilliant form on Saturday, securing another morning triumph with McIlroy and capping off the day with a commanding fourballs victory over Scottie Scheffler and DeChambeau.
Tensions erupted during Fleetwood and Rose’s win on Saturday as Team Europe extended their lead. The former’s impressive performance at Bethpage Black will have thrilled his wife Clare, who became the subject of a cruel comment from the crowd on Friday.
Fleetwood’s relationship with his wife frequently attracts attention due to her being 23 years his senior. The pair’s age gap was used to heckle Fleetwood, with some spectators yelling: “Your wife looks like my grandmother.”
The two-time Ryder Cup champion has previously emphasised Clare’s reluctance to simply be viewed as his other half. Fleetwood’s admission came after one golf commentator branded his wife and manager “the WAG who controls the swag” two years ago.
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“Ooh, I don’t think she’d like to be called a WAG much,” Fleetwood told The Times in 2023. “Clare does much more than me, she’s a very, very busy woman. Both of us absolutely love working – we’d far rather be busy than not busy.”
The pair first crossed paths through Clare’s career as a sports agent and started their romance soon after beginning their professional partnership. They wed in 2017 and welcomed their son later that year, adding to Clare’s two boys from an earlier relationship. As their love developed, the duo initially had reservations about maintaining their work dynamic.
“We planned to keep our life and our work separate, for me to find another agent,” Fleetwood admitted to The Times. “But it became more apparent I wasn’t going to find anybody I’d trust as much because, after all, Clare is a very, very, very good agent by trade; it wasn’t like she was my wife just helping the family out.
“So in the end we thought, ‘We’ll just give it a go, but we will never let anything get in the way of our relationship,’ and it’s just always worked perfectly.”
Despite his spouse being subjected to a cruel chant, Fleetwood has not allowed the incident to affect his performance. Should he manage to secure victory in his individual match against Justin Thomas on Sunday, he would join an exclusive club as just the second golfer in Ryder Cup history to claim five victories at an away competition, matching Tony Lema’s 5-1-0 record for Team USA in 1965.
Fleetwood’s playing partner Rose heaped praise on him once again following their triumph against Scheffler and DeChambeau. The former US Open winner was eager to ensure the confrontational moments during their clash didn’t eclipse the exceptional standard of golf witnessed.
“Yeah, I don’t think we should dwell on that, honestly,” Rose said. “I said to the boys, if you want me to say, ‘Excuse me, please’, then yeah, my bad, but it was an amazing match, honestly. I think we got off to a great start.
“The quality of golf was exceptional. Tommy played incredibly around the turn in the middle of the back nine, and it was an epic match to be a part of.”
On Saturday, Team Europe stretched their advantage to seven points, leading 11.5 to 4.5 going into the final day. It would require a miraculous comeback from Team USA to avoid the first away Ryder Cup defeat since 2012.
Watch the Ryder Cup with discounted Sky Sports package
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the Ryder Cup, saving members £336 and offering all three days of the 2025 competition live with extended coverage.
