A year of making headlines both on and off the golf course took an admitted toll on Rory McIlroy.
The golf superstar, 35, filed for divorce from his wife of seven years, Erica Stoll, in May 2024, before McIlroy rescinded the petition and reconciled with Stoll, 37, the following month.
During a confessional in season 3 of Netflix’s Full Swing, which premiered on Tuesday, February 25, McIlroy discussed how the ordeal impacted him.
“There’s parts of my life that I like to keep as private as possible,” he said. “Unfortunately, in this line of work, that isn’t always possible.”
Rory McIlroy and wife Erica Stoll sparked a romance after years of friendship. The pro golfer initially met Stoll in 2012 while he was still dating tennis player Caroline Wozniacki. (The exes split in 2014 after three years and were briefly engaged.) “The thing I love about it is that we were friends before anything […]
News of McIlroy’s divorce filing went public just days before the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. McIlroy refused to discuss the divorce during any of his press conferences at the tournament.
In his confessional, filmed after he and Stoll had reconciled, McIlroy reflected, “I’ve always tried to be protective of my loved ones from people that have ill intentions. I think it was a wake-up call for me to say, ‘Let’s just focus on the golf for a little bit.’”
McIlroy later added, “I’ve been at this a long time. I’ve been on tour for 17, 18 years. I like when the attention is on my golf. Sometimes that is impossible.”
While McIlroy declined to comment at the time, his shocking divorce news was the talk of the build-up to the tournament.
“Aside from whatever impact it had on his personal life, it was just another thing,” golf personality Dan Rapaport said in a Full Swing confessional. “No one cares about your divorce unless you’ve won majors. That’s life. The more success you have, the more people care about your personal life.”
Rapaport added, “As much as Rory tried, he could not change the topic of conversation.”
Golf influencer Paige Spiranac agreed, saying in a confessional, “Oh, Rory. Gosh, he is just constantly put in the firing zone. It must put such a toll on him.”
Netflix’s Full Swing is all about the professional golf circuit, but Rory McIlroy’s marital issues with Erica Stoll appear to be a big focus for season 3. “I’ve struggled with trying to be the best golfer, the best husband, the best dad,” McIlroy, 35, confessed in the season 3 trailer for the docuseries. In the […]
At the U.S. Open in June 2024, shortly after McIlroy and Stoll reconciled, Netflix cameras caught a conversation between McIlroy and golfer Martin Kaymer, in which McIlroy explained his wife had expressed interest in switching up their lifestyle a little bit.
“If it was up to her, she wouldn’t move to England straightaway, but she definitely wants to spend more time there,” McIlroy told Kaymer, 40.
McIlroy, who is Irish, and Stoll, who was born in New York, share daughter Poppy, 4.
All episodes of Full Swing are available to stream now on Netflix.
