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Rory McIlroy is a pretty private person off the golf course but the Northern Ireland native has shared in a few interviews the importance of his family. McIlroy grew up in Holywood, Northern Ireland, and as an only child is very close with his parents. McIlroy now lives in Jupiter, Florida, with his wife Erica Stoll McIlroy and their daughter Poppy.
Here’s what you need to know about Rory McIlroy’s family:
1. Rory McIlroy’s Parents Are Rosie & Gerry McIlroy & They Worked Several Jobs Through His Childhood to Fund His Golfing Dream
McIlroy was born to Rosaleen “Rosie” McIlroy, née McDonald, and Gerry McIlroy on May 4, 1989. The family lived in a small home in Holywood, County Down, just outside Belfast, Northern Ireland. When McIlroy was growing up, it soon became clear that he had a passion for golf, starting as a toddler and through his childhood at the Holywood Golf Club, regardless of rainy or cold days.
McIlroy’s parents worked around the clock to be able to support his passion for the sport and pay his fees and trips to the U.S. for his tournaments. According to Belfast Live, Rosie McIlroy worked the night shift in a factory and looked after their house during the day, ensuring there was always dinner on the table.
Gerry McIlroy worked several jobs, beginning in the morning cleaning the locker rooms at the local rugby and cricket club, the New York Times wrote. Afterward, he’d clock in as a bartender at the Holywood Golf Club for an afternoon shift and would then work evenings as a bartender for a sports club.
McIlroy said the family didn’t take a holiday as a trio for more than a decade and the demanding schedule meant Rosie and Gerry McIlroy almost never saw each other. However, that’s all the family knew, as Gerry McIlroy shared with Belfast Live that it was just the reality of their working-class lifestyle and their goal was “to get the money we needed for Rory to be able to learn and compete at golf.”
Their hard work and sacrifice did not go unnoticed by McIlroy, who has shared with The Open that he’ll never be able to repay his parents for what they did for him.
“They obviously don’t have to work any more,” he shared. “They have a very nice life and they’re enjoying themselves but they deserve to because the amount of hours that they worked is really twice as much as you should do in a lifetime and they deserve everything they have now because of what they put in for all those years while I was a kid.”
2. Rory McIlroy Said He Has a Great Relationship With His Parents & They’re Like Best Friends, Likely Because He Grew Up an Only Child
McIlroy said that he’s always been really close to his parents and told Belfast Live that “They are like best friends. I can tell them anything, lean on them, ask them for advice.” He said because he was an only child, it just made his bond with his parents all the stronger growing up.
In fact, while speaking with Golf Channel, he said he was close to his mother, who was the one to get him to school in the morning and welcome him home after the day. In the evenings, while his mother worked, McIlroy was with his father, who he was also close with separately from his relationship with his mother. He said the only day they’d spend together as a family was Sunday.
“I have a great relationship with my dad, I have a great relationship with my mom,” he said. “I think my relationship with them as individuals is stronger because of the way I grew up and that dynamic.”
McIlroy also pointed out in the same interview that many of the best golfers in the world have been only children. “Spending time on your own and being comfortable in your own company, I think that’s something that’s very important in life,” he told Golf Channel.
Although his father witnessed McIlroy’s first two major wins, the U.S. Open in 2011 and the PGA Championship in 2012, winning The Open Championship in 2014 was the first major he’d won in front of his mother and father.
He said he waved his mother over because she tends to avoid the spotlight and said it was a “really nice moment” to share with her. “I found it difficult not to cry when I saw her walking towards me with tears in her eyes but it was such a special moment, and it was so nice to share that with her and obviously that’s a moment that’s going to live in my memory for the rest of my life,” he told The Open.
3. Rory McIlroy Is Married to Erica Stoll, a Former PGA of America Employee From Rochester, New York
McIlroy is married to Erica Stoll, whom he met when she was working for the PGA of America. According to the Democrat and Chronicle, Stoll is a New York native who grew up in Rochester and played high school tennis. After graduating from West Irondequoit High School, Stoll attended the Rochester Institute of Technology and obtained a marketing degree.
The future Mrs. McIlroy started working for the PGA back in 2008 in the leadup to the PGA Championship at the Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, near her hometown. In the year before the event, Stoll worked as an office manager but shared with the publication that she wanted to remain with the organization after the event as she really enjoyed the work environment.
Stoll and McIlroy met in 2012 at the Ryder Cup in Medinah, Illinois. At that point, Stoll was working for the PGA of America as the manager of championship volunteer operations and was working for the transportation team, McIlroy said. He told Golf Channel that he misinterpreted his tee time because of a time zone error and nearly missed it, but Stoll drove him to the event under police escort.
He recalled Stoll being the person who was checking the athletes in and out and was always with the transportation team. “It’s still cool to look around and think about that week, and obviously everything that’s happened since then,” he shared. “It’s pretty cool.” The two began a friendship sometime after that, McIlroy said, which was a good foundation for their eventual relationship.
He proposed to the Rochester native in Paris in December 2015, sharing with The Independent at the time that Stoll was a pretty private person and the two wanted to keep their relationship out of the public eye. That said, he admitted that he was really happy and excited about their future together.
Stoll and McIlroy got married in April 2017 at a wedding at Ireland’s Ashford Castle. Though they haven’t publicly shared photos of their wedding day, the event was reported to be an extravagant affair, with performances from celebrity guests like Stevie Wonder and Ed Sheeran, Golf Digest wrote.
4. Rory McIlroy & Erica Stoll McIlroy Have a Daughter Together, Named Poppy, Who Was Born in 2020
McIlroy and Stoll became first-time parents in 2020, as the golfer announced the birth of their daughter on social media in September 2020. “Poppy Kennedy McIlroy, born August 31st, 12:15pm,” he wrote. “She is the absolute love of our lives. Mother and baby are doing great. Massive thank you to all the staff at Jupiter Medical Center and Dr Sasha Melendy for their amazing care ❤️❤️❤️.”
McIlroy’s daughter has accompanied him on the golf course at a few events so far and the golfer’s also shown some clips of cute videos he received from Poppy after other events.
The pro golfer said they both wanted a flower name for their daughter and they really liked the name Poppy. According to Bunkered, they ruled out Iris because of other golfers with daughters named Iris, as well as Rose because of his mother’s name Rosie. “We wanted to go with something that was pretty unique, maybe more common back where I’m from, but we landed on Poppy and we loved it,” he shared.
After his daughter’s birth, he said becoming a father changed his perspective a bit. “(My career) matters to me and I care about it very much, but at the same time, it makes the hard days a little easier to get over, right,” he shared, according to Golf Magic. “And I’m not saying that I want to have hard days to get over, but yeah, you’re a little more relaxed.”
5. Rory McIlroy Is Very Close With His Family & His Parents Spend Half the Year in Florida, Where He Lives With His Wife & Daughter
McIlroy won his third Wells Fargo Championship in May 2021 on Mother’s Day weekend, the first Mother’s Day for his wife Stoll. “For it to be Erica’s first Mother’s Day and for her to be here with Poppy, really, really cool,” McIlroy said after his win.
“It was hard for me not to think of that coming down the last few holes and how cool that would be to see them at the back of the 18th green, but I had more pressing issues at the time, so it was pretty easy to get it out of my head,” he continued. “Really cool for them to be here and to be able to celebrate today.”
While speaking with The Open, McIlroy revealed that his parents live half of the year in Holywood, Northern Ireland, where he was raised, and half of the year in Florida, where the golfer lives with his wife and daughter. In fact, his father Gerry McIlroy is a member of the exclusive Seminole Golf Club in Florida, Golf reported.
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