With news of Rory McIlroy’s divorce from wife Erica Stoll taking the sports world by storm, many questions have surfaced about the golf star’s partner alongside the split.
On Tuesday, reports confirmed that McIlroy, 35, filed the paperwork on Monday, May 13, just three days before the start of the PGA Championship. The filing also follows McIlroy’s victory at the Wells Fargo Championship last weekend.
Here, DailyMail.com answers questions about Stoll, his life and his relationship with the PGA Tour star.
A native of Irondequoit, New York, Stoll was an avid tennis player in high school. According to the Democrat and Chronicle, Stoll enrolled at the Rochester Institute of Technology after high school and graduated with a degree in marketing in 2008.
Born September 10, Stoll shares his birthday with golf legend Arnold Palmer. McIlroy previously acknowledged the joint anniversary with an Instagram post in 2019, writing: “September 10th… a special day for 2 very important people in my life. My wife Erica and Arnold Palmer share a birthday today. They were never able to organize the common party they spoke of a few years ago.
PGA Tour star Rory McIlroy filed for divorce from wife Erica Stoll on Monday, May 13.
Stoll met McIlroy at the 2012 Ryder Cup while working for the PGA as a transportation manager
McIlroy was dating tennis star Caroline Wozniacki when he and Stoll first met
“Arnold would have been 90 today and Erica is, well…much, much younger!” They both taught me a lot and made me a better man. I cherished every moment I spent with Arnold and I cherish the life I was able to spend with Erica. Happy birthday guys!!’
After college, Stoll began working on a career in golf and landed a job with the PGA.
Before the Senior PGA Championship at Oak Hill in Pittsford, just outside Rochester, the PGA hired Stoll as its on-site office manager.
“The way the PGA employees present themselves is so admirable and professional,” she told the Democrat and Chronicle in 2008. “That’s the kind of job I want, and that’s doing something that I love.”
Stoll’s tenure with the PGA eventually led her to serve as transportation manager for the tour. This new position also led to the first meeting between Stoll and McIlroy in 2012.
At the Ryder Cup that year, McIlroy overslept due to a time zone mix-up. Nearly missing his tee time, Stoll arranged a police escort for McIlroy to take him to the course in Medinah, Illinois.
McIlroy and Stoll started dating in 2014 but kept their relationship under the radar
The couple got engaged in 2015, married in 2017 and welcomed their daughter in April 2020.
“That week, Erica was always the one checking on us at the finish and at the start,” McIlroy told Golf Channel of their first meeting. “She was there at the transport, so she was always in the parking lot there.”
‘But yeah, it’s always cool to look around and think about this week, and obviously everything that’s happened since. It’s really cool.’
The couple shared a platonic relationship when they first met. A key factor was that McIlroy was dating tennis star Caroline Wozniacki when they first met. McIlroy and Wozniacki got engaged on New Year’s Eve 2013, but broke up a few months later.
Stoll and McIlroy began dating in late 2014, but kept their relationship low-key at first. Six months into their new romance, McIlroy spoke to The Times of London about his relationship with Stoll.
“I’m very happy in my love life,” he said. “We didn’t really put it out there. She’s from America, which is why I love spending time in Palm Beach. The last six or seven months have been really nice. This part of my life is going very well.
In December 2015, McIlroy and Stoll became engaged and married in April 2017. The couple married in a ceremony at Ashford Castle in Ireland.
Stoll and McIlroy welcomed their daughter, Poppy Kennedy, on August 31, 2020 in Jupiter, Florida.
The couple had been married for seven years before news of the divorce surfaced.
McIlroy filed for divorce just days before the start of the PGA Championship
Just a month after their seventh wedding anniversary, McIlroy filed for divorce in Florida. The reasons for the breakup remain a mystery.
Stoll went unnoticed for most of their relationship, distancing himself from the media. Although she has an Instagram account, Stoll has kept her profile private with only 195 followers.
McIlroy spoke about Stoll stepping away from the spotlight following their engagement, telling the Irish Independent: “Erica has been around me a lot at tournaments, but we’ve really tried to keep it low-key.”
“She’s a very private person, not one to broadcast stuff, but this part of my life is really good right now,” he continued. “We’re excited, our parents are excited so it’s a really happy moment.”
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