Rory McIlroy breaks his silence after submitting for shock divorce

Rory McIlroy has broken his silence following the bombshell news of his divorce from wife Erica Stoll. 

The PGA Tour star, 35, filed divorce from the American, also 35, following seven years of marriage on Monday – three days before the start of the PGA Championship. 

The Northern Irishman confirmed the split in a brief statement through his team on Tuesday. 

‘Rory McIlroy’s communications team confirmed today that a divorce has been filed,’ Sean O’Flaherty, McIlroy’s manager, said in a statement. ‘They stressed Rory’s desire to ensure this difficult time is as respectful and amicable as possible.’

He added there would be no further comment.

McIlroy was due to speak to the media at 9am ET/2pm BST at Valhalla on Wednesday but his press conference has now been pushed back to 3pm ET/8pm BST.  

Court documents filed in Palm Beach County obtained by DailyMail.com, stated that their marriage was ‘irretrievably broken’. 

The couple, who welcomed daughter Poppy Kennedy in 2020, tied the knot in 2017 after a fairytale meeting at the 2012 Ryder Cup. 

McIlroy, whose career earnings total nearly $87million, first met Erica during the tournament in Illinois, while she was working for the PGA. 

Stoll, who hails from New York State, helped McIlroy make his tee time at Medinah after alarm troubles and ultimately go on to defeat Keegan Bradley in his singles match as part of the European comeback known as the ‘Miracle of Medinah’. 

Despite initially meeting at the Ryder Cup that year, it wasn’t until a few years later that the pair would enter a relationship.

A few months after calling off his engagement with tennis star Caroline Wozniacki in 2014, McIlroy and Stoll got together before getting engaged a year later. 

The four-time major champion and Stoll kept their relationship largely private before they married in a lavish ceremony in Ireland in 2017.

The couple exchanged their vows at Ashford Castle in County Mayo, Ireland, in front of celebrity guests, including One Direction star Niall Horan and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, while music icons Ed Sheeran and Stevie Wonder performed at the event.

The petition for divorce states that the pair had signed a prenuptial agreement. However, the details of the arrangement have not been divulged.

McIlroy’s attorney was listed as Thomas Sasser, the same attorney who represented Tiger Woods when his wife divorced him in 2010. 

The filing also calls for shared custody and a parenting plan to be established for Poppy.

They are believed to have lived in a 12,800-square-foot, $9.5million mansion in the golfing capital of Jupiter, Florida – home to many professional tour golfers.

Erica has regularly been spotted supporting her PGA husband at his tournaments, including the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome where she wowed in a stunning, strapless black gown on the Spanish Steps. 

She was also on McIlroy’s bag for the Masters Par-3 competition with their daughter Poppy in 2023. However, the McIlroy family were notably absent from the traditional, annual event. 

Erica grew up in New York and graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2008 with a marketing degree. She went on to work for the Professional Golf Association of America.

She was seen at The Players in March when the PGA Tour shared a heartwarming clip of she and Poppy greeting McIlroy on the 18th green. The golfer was seen scooping his daughter into his arms for a hug with Erica telling him they had been watching his birdie-birdie finish. 

McIlroy infamously split from tennis star Wozniacki in 2014 just months before they were due to wed. 

The golfer is said to have dumped his then-fiancée in a three-minute phone call hours after telling her he loved her. Their split came in May 2014, before they were due to marry in November.

McIlroy’s split from Wozniacki came days before the BMW PGA Championship in England, which he went on to win. At the same event the previous year, he tied for 96th place. 

He also collected two major championships victories that year, The Open at Royal Liverpool in July and the PGA Championship in August at Valhalla – the same course at the same tournament as this week. 

It is an eerily similar pattern for the golfer. McIlroy filed for the divorce a day after winning in Charlotte, North Carolina, his second straight PGA Tour win and the 26th of his career. 

Asked if he planned to go straight to Valhalla on Sunday night, McIlroy said, ‘I’ll probably go home and just sort of reset, then head up to Louisville tomorrow night or Tuesday morning.’ 

Two weeks before, he scooped up yet another trophy for his cabinet, winning the Zurich Classic alongside pal and Ryder Cup teammate, Irishman Shane Lowry.