Rory McIlroy is married to Erica Stoll McIlroy and the couple shares one daughter. The professional golfer met his now-wife, a New York native, in the U.S. as she worked for the PGA at the time and they got married in Ireland in 2017. The family of three lives in Jupiter, Florida.
Here’s what you need to know about Rory McIlroy’s wife Erica Stoll McIlroy:
1. Erica Stoll Was Born & Raised in Rochester, New York, & Began Working for the PGA, Which Is How She Met Rory McIlroy
Congrats to IHS grad Erica Stoll on her first Mother’s Day and her husband, @McIlroyRory, on his first PGA Tour win in 18 months.
Stoll was raised in New York and attended West Irondequoit High School in Rochester, according to the Democrat & Chronicle. She played tennis while in high school and then attended the Rochester Institute of Technology, where she studied marketing.
Stoll began working for the PGA prior to the PGA Championship at the Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, close to Rochester, in 2008. For the year before the event, Stoll worked as an office manager helping to prepare for the major event. At the time, she shared with the Democrat & Chronicle that she was interested in staying on with the PGA after the tournament.
She told the publication that “The way PGA employees present themselves is so admirable and professional. That’s the kind of job I want, and it’s doing something I love.”
Stoll continued working for the PGA of America after the event and eventually found herself as the manager of championship volunteer operations. She met McIlroy in 2012 at the Ryder Cup in Medinah, Illinois. McIlroy nearly missed the event after he misinterpreted the time zone for his tee time. McIlroy told Golf Channel that Stoll was working for the transportation team that week and she drove him to the event with a police escort.
“Erica that week was always the one that was checking us in and out,” McIlroy shared with the publication. “She was there at transportation, so she was always in the car park over there (by the clubhouse). But yeah, it’s still cool to look around and think about that week, and obviously everything that’s happened since then. It’s pretty cool.”
2. Rory McIlroy Said He & Erica Stoll Started Off as Friends & Said He Found Being Around Her ‘Refreshing’
The now-married couple started off as just friends, McIlroy revealed, which helped them build a solid foundation for their relationship. When speaking to The Independent about his partner, he said, “The thing I love about it is that we were friends before anything romantic happened.”
He said she was working for the PGA and had a condo in Palm Beach, and McIlroy “found it refreshing being with someone who was living a normal life rather than, ‘Oh! My jet is 30 minutes late!'” he shared. He said he felt like the two could talk about any subject and they soon realized there was more between them than a friendship.
He said he felt like Stoll never judged him, something he said was hard to find in a partner because of his position as a famous professional athlete. Although they met in 2012, it wasn’t until 2014 that they began spending more and more time together and then it progressed from there after the summer of 2014. “We spent Halloween together and then the next day we went for a bit of brunch,” he told Belfast Live.
After dating for around a month, McIlroy asked her where she thought the relationship was going. “It was actually a little pub in Florida down from where we live, a wee place called The Thirsty Turtle and I can even remember what we were eating,” he told the publication.
“I didn’t really ask her out, I just sort of said, ‘yano what’s going on here?’ ‘Where’s this going type of thing?’ And I think she was conscious that she didn’t want to pressurize me into anything because of what had went on with me, but I was all for it,” he revealed.
3. Rory McIlroy Proposed to Erica Stoll in Paris & the Couple Married in April 2017 in Ireland
McIlroy popped the question to Stoll when they were on vacation in Paris in December 2015. At the time, he said they’d been keeping their relationship pretty private but they were both excited to take the next step in their relationship.
“She is a very low-key person, not the kind to broadcast stuff, but that side of my life is really good just now,” he said, according to The Independent. “We are excited, our parents are excited so it is a really happy time.”
The couple tied the knot in April 2017 in a lavish wedding at Ireland’s Ashford Castle. Ashford Castle is an 800-year-old castle turned into a hotel and country estate located on a 350-acre property in County Mayo, Ireland.
According to E! News, the wedding was reported to cost $250,000 and was attended by celebrities such as One Direction’s Niall Horan, Stevie Wonder and Ed Sheeran.
4. Rory McIlroy Said He’s Very Happy With Erica Stoll & She Has a ‘Calming’ Influence on His Life
McIlroy has made some public comments about his relationship although he’s mostly kept it under wraps, with only a couple of photos with his wife on his Instagram. While speaking to The Independent about her back when they started dating, he said, “She is from America which is why I like to spend time in Spring Beach. She doesn’t play golf but she is involved,” he said, according to the Belfast Telegraph.
“I am very happy in my love life,” he added. “If everything off the golf course is good, it allows you to be better on it as well.”
After he proposed to her in Paris, he told The Independent that he was enjoying the “normality” of his relationship with Stoll. “For me, Erica brings such a level of normality to everything,” he said. He described his partner as having a “calming presence” on those around her, “a sereneness and that’s not just on me; it is noticeable in any company.”
He said she never seeks the spotlight and in fact prefers to stay out of it, which is also why she doesn’t feature much on his Instagram, where McIlroy has 2.5 million followers. “She has been a great influence on me and has given such a great balance to my life – between who I am when people see me out here and who I am at home,” he said.
5. Rory McIlroy & Erica Stoll Have a Daughter Together, Poppy, Who Was Born in 2020
McIlroy and Stoll became parents in 2020 with the birth of their daughter, Poppy Kennedy McIlroy. He announced her birth on Instagram, writing that she was born on August 31 just after noon. “She is the absolute love of our lives,” he wrote.
After her birth, he revealed how the new parents came to pick their daughter’s name. “We just really liked it,” McIlroy confessed, according to Bunkered. “I have a cousin of mine, her daughter is named Poppy. We know a few other Poppies. And we just really love the name.”
He said they wanted a flower name and were going through their options. “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 spilled.
Since becoming a father, McIlroy said everything feels different, including his golfing. In an interview, he said, “I went down a couple of rabbit holes since then as well with my game so being able to come back up and out of those rabbit holes is very satisfying,” according to the Irish Mirror.
He said every moment with his daughter is incredible and there’s always a new “first” that keeps happening. “All those firsts, and looking forward to bath time and going into their room in the morning and getting them up out of bed,” he said. “Just all that stuff that you would sort of take for granted.”
McIlroy also admitted that becoming a father has changed his perception of his own parents a bit and made him even more appreciative of everything they did for him. “Everything that’s happened to me on the golf course and off the golf course has already been beyond my wildest dreams, and sometimes I have to sort of pinch myself and sort of ask why me, why am I so lucky?” he asked.
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Erica Stoll McIlroy, Rory McIlroy’s Wife: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know