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Rory McIlroy has filed for divorce after seven years of marriage, according to Palm Beach County, Florida, court records, a surprising development that delves into the PGA Championship.
McIlroy and his wife, Erica Stoll, had a fantastic meeting during the Ryder Cup in 2012, started dating two years later and married in 2017. They have a daughter, Poppy, born in September 2020.
TMZ first reported on the filing, which took place on Monday. Documents of the petition for dissolution of marriage were not immediately available.
McIlroy’s attorney was listed as Thomas Sasser, the same attorney who represented tiger forest when his wife divorced him in 2010.
“Rory McIlroy’s communications team confirmed today that a divorce has been filed. They highlighted Rory’s desire to ensure this difficult time is as respectful and friendly as possible,” said a statement from his manager, Sean O’Flaherty.
He said there would be no further comment.
McIlroy came to Valhalla on Tuesday. It’s been 10 years since he won a major, the last in Valhalla in 2014 for the PGA Championship. His pre-tournament press conference was scheduled for Wednesday.
McIlroy and Stoll met under unusual circumstances. She worked for him PGA of America in 2012 during the Ryder Cup in Medinah, in the Chicago suburbs, where McIlroy nearly missed his Sunday singles match because he said he forgot he was in the central time zone.
Stoll organized a police escort to Medinah and McIlroy barely arrived in time. He won his match over Keegan Bradley as Europe rallied to win.
McIlroy was dating tennis star Caroline Wozniacki at the time. They got engaged just over a year later, but McIlroy abruptly broke up over the phone.
He and Stoll began dating later that year. They got engaged in 2015.
McIlroy filed for divorce a day after won the Wells Fargo championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, his second consecutive victory on the PGA Tour and the 26th of his career. When asked if he planned to head straight to Valhalla on Sunday night, McIlroy said, “I’ll probably go home and reset, then head to Louisville tomorrow night or Tuesday morning.”
The divorce filing comes amid chaos in golf created by the launch of a Saudi-funded project. LIV Golf. McIlroy has been a central figure for the past two years, harshly criticizing LIV and then changing his views and pushing for some form of reunification.
He resigned from the PGA Tour board of directors last November and was later involved in a plans to rejoin the board replacing Webb Simpson. That move was met with resistance from other player managers. Instead, McIlroy was named to a committee that is negotiating with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund about becoming a minority investor.
Associated Press writer Terry Spencer in Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.
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