Rory McIlroy's Wife Erica Skips His Awful US Open Performance & Her Absence Says So Much

Another red flag in Rory McIlroy's marriage to Erica Stoll came to light after his poor showing at the U.S. Open. McIlroy had a meltdown on the course during his round on June 13, throwing his club in frustration at one point. It was notable that Stoll wasn't present for any round during the tournament, and she was also not on hand for the PGA Championship the previous month. Stoll's absence was felt even more strongly, considering the couple's embrace after McIlroy's massive win at the Masters in April.

Analysts believed that the golfer's home life could have impacted his performance in the U.S. Open. "He's just not playing well. He doesn't seem like himself," Steve Melnyk said during the broadcast of the tournament on June 14, per The Mirror US. This came after McIlroy shot four over for the round. "I don't know if there's something going on off the course, but he doesn't seem himself," Melnyk added. Fellow commentator Brian Katrek mentioned that McIlroy and Stoll were getting ready to move the family from Florida to the United Kingdom. Even with the pending move, it was surprising to see Stoll skip out on the event.

Stoll's absence said a lot about the state of her marriage to McIlroy. The PGA golfer had filed for divorce in May 2024, and then called it off a month later. At the time, a source revealed that McIlroy didn't handle being away from his wife well. "[Rory] definitely can't be on his own for more than about five minutes," an insider told the Daily Mail in June 2024. Clearly, McIlroy preferred it when Stoll was in attendance, but even when she was there for his big win, there were signs of trouble in paradise.

Erica Stoll was on hand when Rory McIlroy won the Masters two months before the U.S. Open. The couple hugged after the golfer's huge win, but Stoll's behavior at the Masters showed signs of marital woes. She held their daughter, Poppy, while embracing, but a body language expert noticed that the wife seemed to be going through the motions. "Rory looks overwhelmed and clingy, while Erica's response appears a little more polite, subdued and tempered," body language expert Judi James told the Daily Mail in April. Following the big win, McIlroy decided to take a trip to his home country of Ireland. Photographers captured him getting off the flight with daughter Poppy, but Erica was conspicuously absent. This hinted that not everything was peachy on the McIlroy-Stoll home front.

As mentioned, this all went down a year after the couple was headed for divorce. "Over the past weeks, Erica and I have realized that our best future was as a family together. Thankfully, we have resolved our differences and look forward to a new beginning," McIlroy told The Guardian in June 2024 after backpedaling on the divorce filings.

Insight into the couple's marital problems came to light just before McIlroy retracted his petition for divorce. An insider said that Stoll struggled being married to a golfer who was always traveling. "A point of contention in Rory's marriage with Erica was that Erica was lonely in their marriage," the insider told Us Weekly in May 2024, adding that Stoll "was really focused on Poppy" instead of being a golf wife. Adding all of this for context pointed to serious red flags when Stoll skipped out on McIlroy's tournaments.