Tommy Fleetwood and his wife Clare set a deadline to determine the feasibility of their working relationship.
The golf star, 33, who posted a four-under-par 67 in the first round of the Olympic tournament, married Clare, 23 years his senior, in 2017. She was Tommy’s manager before their relationship took a romantic turn. Due to the significant age difference, Clare initially resisted his advances before they eventually became romantically involved.
The couple questioned whether they could maintain their professional relationship, with Clare contemplating stepping down from her role as her partner’s manager. However, after a trial period, they concluded that they could continue their professional relationship.
“As we were sat there listening to different proposals, I’m like, ‘I can do this’,” she told the Performance People podcast in May 2023. “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.”
Discussing how they balance their work-life relationship, Clare explained: “I talk about work a lot I can’t help it but I do make a conscious effort [to switch off]. I can see sometimes in his face that he’s had enough, which is quite often!
“We put an office in the house and if I need to talk to him about work, he’ll come in. The only thing we needed to get right was me not talking about work all of the time.
“Tommy’s happier going off reading a book, listening to podcasts, he meditates. I’ll go off to work if I’ve got a spare hour. That’s my weakness in a way. It was never the plan to work together.”
Tommy explained: “When we knew we were going to be working together and married, we always said if we felt it wasn’t working, we’d do something else [and change manager], but gave it a go.”