Tommy Fleetwood was once asked about the 23-year age difference between him and his wife Clare Craig, describing him and his wife as “pioneers”.
Tommy, 32, and his wife Claire, 55, met in 2015 when she approached him about becoming his agent.
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Clare is a well-known name in the sports agency world, with her initial specialism being in motorsport.
But in 2015, his company Hambrick Sports Management began expanding its golf roster and the two met in a professional setting.
When Claire began representing him as his manager in 2015, Tommy revealed Golf Monthly“I’ve also gotten on really well with Clare Craig, who’s the vice president for Europe. She’s always on the tour, and I’ve spoken to her a lot over the years.”
She said when Claire became Tommy’s manager it took just a few months for the two to fall in love.
he said in an interview in January many times“We spent more and more time together and it just so happened that we fell in love.”
She explained how long it took: “Not too long, just a few months. We already had such a strong bond and the extra time together made us even better.”
But that’s after Claire turned down Tommy’s first few attempts.
Clare revealed she had turned Tommy down the first few times, citing the age difference, adding: “There’s a 23-year age difference between us. Of course, I turned him down. I was like, ‘Don’t be stupid'”
But when Tommy asked her out again, she said she “eventually agreed” and the two began dating.
Claire had initially planned to leave her management role after the two began a relationship, but after six months of seeing how her management would affect things, the two decided she would continue to represent him.
Tommy said Performance People Podcast In May 2023: “When we were sitting there listening to the different proposals, I felt I could do it… but for some reason at the beginning I felt I couldn’t do it and I shouldn’t do it.
“Then we gave it six months, and it worked, so we kept going.”
The two got married in the Bahamas in 2017, and their son, Franklin, was born three months later.
Speaking on the age difference, Fleetwood told The Times: “Oh, we certainly get comments. But it’s never been an issue for us. Clare looks really young for her age and I look older – maybe it’s all the sunshine. She’s incredibly cool and I’m not cool at all, although I’m quite mature for my age.
When interviewer Julia Llewellyn Smith suggested that eyebrows would not have been raised so much if the sexes were compared oppositely, Fleetwood said: “Absolutely!”.
When asked what the two had most in common, Fleetwood said: “We both have a very northern sense of humour. We’re both from working class backgrounds – when you look at our parents they brought us up in the same way, whether it’s kindness or toughness or wanting to be the best you can be.”
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