By Jake Bayliss,Mathew Davies
Copyright walesonline
Ryder Cup star Tommy Fleetwood has previously described his wife Clare with a remark about her shunning the spotlight of fame. Fleetwood has claimed victory in all four of his encounters at Bethpage Black and will be keen to wrap up the Ryder Cup with a flawless 5-0 record as Team Europe move nearer to an away triumph. The English golfer, 34, began by prevailing in his foursomes battle alongside Rory McIlroy on Friday before teaming up with Justin Rose to secure another point in their fourballs match against Bryson DeChambeau and Ben Griffin. He continued his outstanding form on Saturday, clinching another morning success with McIlroy and finishing the day with a dominant fourballs victory over Scottie Scheffler and DeChambeau. Drama flared during Fleetwood and Rose’s triumph on Saturday as Team Europe stretched their advantage. The former’s superb display at Bethpage Black will have delighted his wife Clare, who found herself the target of a nasty jibe from the gallery on Friday. Fleetwood’s romance with his wife regularly draws scrutiny owing to her being 23 years his senior. The couple’s age difference was exploited to taunt Fleetwood, with certain onlookers shouting: “Your wife looks like my grandmother.” The two-time Ryder Cup champion has previously highlighted Clare’s unwillingness to merely be seen as his partner. Fleetwood’s revelation emerged after one golf pundit labelled his wife and manager “the WAG who controls the swag” two years ago, reports the Mirror . “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 couple initially met through Clare’s work as a sports agent and began their relationship shortly after starting their professional collaboration. They married in 2017 and had their son later that same year, joining Clare’s two children from a previous relationship. As their romance blossomed, the pair originally had concerns about preserving their working relationship. “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 partner being targeted by a nasty chant, Fleetwood has refused to let the episode impact his game. If he manages to clinch victory in his singles match against Justin Thomas on Sunday, he would enter an elite group as only the second player in Ryder Cup history to achieve five wins at an away venue, equalling Tony Lema’s 5-1-0 record for Team USA in 1965. Following their victory over Scheffler and DeChambeau, Fleetwood’s teammate Rose was full of admiration for him. The former US Open champion was keen to ensure that any contentious moments during the match didn’t overshadow the outstanding golf on display. “Yeah, I don’t think we should dwell on that, honestly,” Rose commented. “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 extended their lead to seven points, with the score standing at 11.5 to 4.5 going into the final day. It would take a remarkable turnaround from Team USA to prevent their first away Ryder Cup defeat since 2012.
