Rory McIlroy shockingly files for divorce ahead of PGA Championship

Rory McIlroy and his wife, Erica Stoll, will divorce after seven years of marriage, according to multiple reports.

Rory McIlroy has filed for a divorce.

After seven years of marriage to his wife, Eric Stoll, McIlroy submitted divorce filing papers in a Florida court on Monday. TMZ first reported the news of their split, and The Irish Independent confirmed it. This decision comes the same week as the PGA Championship at Valhalla, where McIlroy last won a major in August 2014.

Ironically, in May 2014, McIlroy announced he had called off his engagement with tennis star Caroline Wozniacki. Funny enough, he did so at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, a tournament he went on to win. McIlroy entered the final round seven shots back and shot a 6-under 66 to win by one stroke over Shane Lowry.

Perhaps history will repeat itself this week in Kentucky.

Nevertheless, McIlroy started dating Stoll a year after his split from Wozniacki, keeping their relationship mostly private.

But McIlroy and Stoll famously met a couple of years before they started dating at the 2012 Ryder Cup.

That week, McIlroy messed up the timing of his tee time and almost forfeited his match due to his tardiness. But Stoll, an employee of the PGA of America at the time, helped the Northern Irishman get to the first tee in time. The Europeans went on to win the Ryder Cup at Medinah in dramatic fashion that year, which may not have happened if not for Stoll’s heroics.

Then, in 2017, McIlroy and Stoll, a native of Rochester, New York, celebrated their marriage in a lavish ceremony in Ireland.

The couple then had a child together in 2020.

But Stoll was notably absent from Augusta National last month, where McIlroy tried to complete the Grand Slam for the tenth straight year.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.