‘My wife’s my manager and is 20 years older. It’s not the norm’
In making his case for a resounding away win in this Ryder Cup, an American journalist opined on Twitter last week that the US have “10 Tommy Fleetwoods”. The Englishman responded thus: “None of them have long hair and almost all of them are taller than me, they also have American accents and mine is English, and my wife is 20 years older than me …”
Clare Fleetwood is Tommy’s manager and a huge part of his story. Without her, Fleetwood does not believe it would have been possible to arrest the slump that saw him drop out of the world’s top 180 just two years ago.
She is the Wag who controls his swag, the agent with a unique dual role at this Ryder Cup. Never before has a golfer’s manager walked hand in hand with their player up to the stage in an opening ceremony.
Fleetwood laughed when this was put to him. “Well yeah, I’m not sure Clare’s too keen on the title ‘Wag’, but she has been looking forward to it,” he said. “We had a lovely time searching for a dress for the gala dinner. She’s a big Man City fan and she’s going to bring a little bit of north-west football fannage to the Ryder Cup. No, I don’t think we’ve ever been called the norm.”
Fleetwood was with Chubby Chandler’s ISM group when he and Clare decided to go on their own. Clare had been working for Hambric Sports, which has overseen the careers of Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Thorbjorn Olesen. She previously worked with Richard Burns, the rally driver who died from brain cancer as a 34-year-old in 2005, just four years removed from winning the World Championship. Clare has worked tirelessly for the foundation set up in his memory.
Yet time has been short in the past year. With two children from her first marriage – Oscar and Mo – Clare gave birth to her and Tommy’s first child last September. Frankie’s first birthday falls tomorrow, on the first day of his father’s debut in the Ryder Cup. It is sure to be emotional, but Clare will also be looking on wearing her manager’s visor. The interest will not be conflicted at all.
“It works very well,” Fleetwood said. “I do as I’m told when needed to. When we started, we obviously never knew how it was going to go, and I think we were always open to the idea if it didn’t work then we’d try something else, but luckily for us, we get on so well. I guess it’s our relationship in a way, but we’ve not had any trouble yet. But then, my entire backroom is formed with people I class as friends first and colleagues second. It’s just the way I am.”
Ian Finnis, his caddie, was his best friend growing up. Fleetwood approached him when he was sliding down the rankings and told him to quit his job as an assistant pro at Formby Hall golf club.
“I’m seriously lucky that’s worked out,” Fleetwood said. “I mean you take a chance. Right now, he’s one of the best caddies in the world but at the time he was just my best mate and there are plenty of examples of friendships failing in work. It’s the same with Clare – you don’t get a closer relationship with your manager than marrying them and helping her bring up Oscar and Mo and now Frankie. And then there’s Tommo [Alan Thompson, his swing coach]. I’ve known him forever, he’s godfather to Frankie.
“And then there’s Phil [Kenyon, his putting coach]. He’s from Southport and I’ve known him since I was 11 – for 16 years. I mean I’ve just got a bunch of people that I’m so close with. I don’t know if it’s part of my character that I do this, something going on in the subconsciousness, but it all just seems to make sense to me.”
It is clear why Fleetwood enjoys being part of the Europe team room. In the weeks before the Ryder Cup, as he played in the four Fedex play-off events on the PGA Tour, he felt more and more part of the team, part of the Europe “family”.
“I mean I know I’ve been in the team for quite a while now, since the US Open in June probably, but it was only when the team was confirmed that it became very real.