Rory McIlroy has filed for divorce from his wife of seven years, Erica Stoll, on the eve of the PGA Championship.
According to court records in Palm Beach County, Florida, the couple, who met during the Ryder Cup in 2012, are now going their separate ways.
They began dating two years later and married in 2017 before having a daughter, Poppy, in September 2020.
The proposal was first made on Monday and a statement from McIlroy’s manager, Sean O’Flaherty, confirmed the split.
He said: “Rory McIlroy the communications team confirmed today that the divorce has been filed.
“They emphasized Rory’s desire to ensure this difficult time is as respectful and friendly as possible.”
He said there would be no further comment.
TMZ first reported on the lawsuit and McIlroy’s attorney was listed as Thomas Sasser, the same attorney who represented Tiger Woods when his wife divorced him in 2010.
The news came as McIlroy arrived at Valhalla Golf Club, home of the PGA Championship, on Tuesday.
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McIlroy has been a decade since he won a major, the last being the PGA Championship in 2014, and he has a pre-tournament news conference scheduled for Wednesday.
The golf star and Stoll met when she was working for the PGA of America in 2012, during the Ryder Cup in Medinah, in the Chicago suburbs, where McIlroy almost missed a match because he forgot what time zone he was in.
Stoll arranged a police escort to Medinah and McIlroy barely arrived in time. But he beat Keegan Bradley as Europe rallied to win.
McIlroy was dating tennis star Caroline Wozniacki at the time, to whom he became engaged just over a year later.
But then McIlroy broke up abruptly over the phone and he and Stoll began dating later that year. They got engaged in 2015.
The divorce filing comes amid chaos in golf created by the launch of Saudi-funded LIV Golf.
The Northern Irishman has been a central figure over the past two years, harshly criticizing the LIV and then changing his mind and pushing for some form of reunification.
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