Professional golfer Rory McIlroy and his wife, Erica Stoll, filed for divorce earlier this month after being married for seven years. According to reports, news of the separation began circulating during the week of the PGA Championship. However, divorce papers were allegedly signed the week before.
Reports indicate that McIlroy signed the papers on May 9, just as the first day of the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, began at Quail Hollow Country Club. Apparently, the world-famous golfer digitally signed them only hours after shooting a four-under 68.
Per the Belfast Telegraph, a private investigator served the papers to Stoll at their home in Jupiter, Florida, less than 24 hours after McIlroy won the Wells Fargo Championship. Reportedly, McIlroy used the same attorney as Tiger Woods during his divorce with Ein Nordegren.
According to Us Weekly, Stoll was “lonely” in her marriage with McIlroy, who was “a hard person to be married to” given his demanding professional golf career. Reportedly, the couple “were living very different lives the last two years with him being on the road, and eventually she had a breaking point.”
Reports suggest that when McIlroy and Stoll had their daughter Poppy, Stoll’s outlook on the marriage really began to change. “She knew what she was getting into with his profession, but once they had (their daughter) Poppy, things really changed, and she had a new perspective. Erica was usually absent for most of his tournaments and was really focused on Poppy,” per Us Weekly.
McIlroy has also been in the news recently for his comments on the PGA Tour versus LIV debate. The golfer was famously quoted as asserting that LIV was “dead in the water” during the league’s early days.
During an appearance on the “Stick to Football Podcast,” McIlroy seemed to shift his opinion, calling fellow golfer and friend John Rahm “smart” in his decision to join LIV. He added that the option still existed to come and play on the tour if need be.
“Jon Rahm hasn’t got any of the heat that the first guys got for going. It’s made it easier for guys to jump. I think Jon, he’s smart, and I think he sees things coming together at some point, so he’s thinking ‘O.K. I’ll take a lot of upfront money,’ which is his prerogative, he can absolutely do that and if things come together, ‘I’ll maybe play LIV for a year then come back to play on the Tour and play some team golf on the sort of fringes,” Rory said.
However, McIlroy expressed regret for getting so deeply involved in the dispute between the competing golf leagues. “I think, in hindsight, I wish I hadn’t have gotten involved, or not ‘hadn’t have gotten involved,’ but hadn’t have gotten as deeply involved in it, and I’ve articulated that.”
He continued, “My whole thing is I’m just disappointed to what it’s done to — not to the game of golf, the game of golf will be fine — but men’s professional golf and this sort of divide we have at the minute. Hopefully we’re on a path to sorting that out and getting that to come back together, but, yeah, I mean, hindsight’s always 20/20, but in hindsight I wish I hadn’t have gotten as deeply involved as I have.”
Featured image credit: TourProGolfClubs, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rory_McIlroy_(car).jpg
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