PGA Tour star and four-time majors winner Rory McIlroy has filed for divorce from his wife Erica Stoll. 

The 35-year-old is said to have filed the documents on Monday, just three days before the start of the PGA Championship, the second major of the year, and fresh off his latest victory at the Wells Fargo Championship last weekend.

McIlroy’s communications team confirmed on Tuesday that a divorce has been filed. They stressed Rory’s desire to ensure the process is ‘as respectful and amicable as possible’.

Court documents filed in Palm Beach County obtained by DailyMail.com stated their marriage was ‘irretrievably broken’.   

The couple, who share a three-year-old daughter Poppy Kennedy born in 2020, tied the knot in 2017 after a storybook meeting at the 2012 Ryder Cup.

The Northern Irishman, whose career earnings total nearly £69million ($87million), first met 35-year-old New York state native Erica during the tournament in Illinois, at which she was working for the PGA. 

The Northern Irishman first met Erica during the 2012 Ryder Cup, which she was working at (pictured at the opening of the 2023 Ryder Cup)

The Northern Irishman and Stoll tied the knot in 2017 (pictured at the 2023 Ryder Cup)

A smiling Rory was seen on the driving range at Valhalla on Tuesday after news of his divorce became public

The four time major winner was seen practicing ahead of the PGA Championship as normal, a day after filing divorce papers

He has previously credited the American with helping him make his tee time at Medinah – thanks to a police escort – after he missed his alarm. 

He went on to win his match over Keegan Bradley as part of what was later hailed as the ‘miracle at Medinah’.

Despite initially meeting at the Ryder Cup that year, it wasn’t until a few years later that the pair would enter a relationship.

A few months after calling off his engagement with tennis star Caroline Wozniacki in 2014, McIlroy and Stoll got together before getting engaged a year later. 

The four-time major champion and Stoll kept their relationship largely private before they married in a lavish ceremony in Ireland in 2017.

The couple exchanged their vows at Ashford Castle in County Mayo, Ireland, in front of celebrity guests, including One Direction star Niall Horan and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, while music icons Ed Sheeran and Stevie Wonder performed at the event.

The petition for divorce states that the pair had signed a prenuptial agreement. However, the details of the arrangement have not been divulged.

McIlroy’s attorney was listed as Thomas Sasser, the same attorney who represented Tiger Woods when his wife divorced him in 2010. 

The filing also calls for shared custody and a parenting plan to be established for Poppy.

McIlroy is due to speak to the media on Wednesday afternoon at Valhalla, where he was seen practicing today. His team has issued a statement on his behalf.

McIlroy and Stoll got together after his split from Caroline Wozniacki in 2014 

The couple share a three-year-old daughter Poppy, who was born in 2020 (Erica and Poppy pictured in 2021)

At one time, they lived in this 12,800-square-foot, £7.6million ($9.5million) mansion in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, before later moving down the road to Jupiter

McIlroy bought the six-bedroom mansion in the golfing capital of Palm Beach in 2013 and put it up for sale with a $12.9million asking price in 2018

Erica was on McIlroy’s bag for the Masters Par-3 event with their daughter Poppy in 2023

The petition for divorce states that the pair had signed a prenuptial agreement. However, the details of the arrangement have not been divulged

Sean O’Flaherty, McIlroy’s manager, said in a statement: ‘Rory McIlroy’s communications team confirmed today that a divorce has been filed. 

‘They stressed Rory’s desire to ensure this difficult time is as respectful and amicable as possible.’

He added there would be no further comment.

They are believed to have lived in a 12,800-square-foot, £7.6million ($9.5million) mansion in the golfing capital of Jupiter, Florida – home to many professionals – after McIlroy sold his plush Palm Beach Gardens mansion in 2018 for £9.5million ($11.9million).

It has been reported the house once belonged to golfing legend Ernie Els.  

Erica has regularly been spotted supporting her PGA husband at his tournaments, including the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome where she wowed in a stunning, strapless black gown on the Spanish Steps. 

She was also on McIlroy’s bag for the Masters Par-3 competition with their daughter Poppy in 2023. However, the McIlroy family were notably absent from the traditional, annual event. 

Erica grew up in New York and graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2008 with a marketing degree. She went on to work for the Professional Golf Association of America.

She was seen at The Players in March when the PGA Tour shared a heartwarming clip of she and Poppy greeting McIlroy on the 18th green. 

The golfer was seen scooping his daughter into his arms for a hug with Erica telling him they had been watching his birdie-birdie finish. 

And Erica was also seen supporting Rory throughout the second series of Netflix series Full Swing, which documented the 2023 PGA Tour.

Scenes showed her cooling Rory off during an outburst and giving him a kiss as Team Europe took the lead in last year’s Ryder Cup.

McIlroy infamously split from tennis star Wozniacki in 2014 just months before they were due to wed. 

The golfer is said to have dumped his then-fiancée in a three-minute phone call hours after telling her he loved her. Their split came in May 2014, before they were due to marry in November.

The 35-year-old has regularly been spotted supporting her PGA husband at his tournaments 

Erica is pictured with Wendy Honner, the wife of Irish golfer Shane Lowry (second from left)

McIlroy’s split from Wozniacki came days before the BMW PGA Championship in England, which he went on to win. At the same event the previous year, he tied for 96th place. 

He said in a statement at the time that he was not ready for marriage – and while he said he would not make any further comment he did answer questions at a press conference that followed ahead of the tournament.

Looking drained and emotional, McIlroy said in 2014: ‘Obviously (it’s) quite a difficult time for Caroline and myself and I think the statement really said it all this morning.

‘It was mutual and amicable and we both thought it was the best for both of us. Time to move on and I think I’ve said all that I need to say.’

He also collected two major championships victories that year, The Open at Royal Liverpool in July and the PGA Championship in August at Valhalla – the same course as the same tournament this week. 

Rumors swirled thereafter that Rory was dating Suits actress Meghan Markle – after they were caught hanging out in a video shared to her social media accounts.

At the time, the golfer helped the actress participate in the Ice Bucket Challenge – a viral social media trend designed to raise awareness for motor neurone disease. 

The two also reportedly enjoyed a late-night rendezvous together, enjoying a drink at a swanky New York City hotel before grabbing dinner at acclaimed celebrity hotspot Cipriani.

But the 2014 PGA Championship was McIlroy’s last major win with the Northern Irishman suffering a decade-long drought and failing to seal the career Grand Slam. 

It is an eerily similar patter for the golfer, who won his 26th tournament on the PGA Tour, with his fourth Wells Fargo Championship victory in another dominant performance at Quail Hollow last weekend. 

McIlroy filed for the divorce a day after winning in Charlotte, North Carolina, his second straight PGA Tour win and the 26th of his career. 

Asked if he planned to go straight to Valhalla on Sunday night, McIlroy said, ‘I’ll probably go home and just sort of reset, then head up to Louisville tomorrow night or Tuesday morning.’ 

Two weeks before, he scooped yet another trophy for his cabinet, winning the Zurich Classic alongside pal and Ryder Cup teammate, Irishman Shane Lowry, with the duo celebrating their triumph with an impromptu rendition of Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’. 

McIlroy split from tennis star Caroline Wozniacki in 2014 months before they were due to wed

The golfer is said to have dumped his then-fiancée (pictured) in a three-minute phone call

Rory and Meghan Markle sparked romance rumors in 2014 after the two were seen getting flirty in a video shared to her social media account

The report of his split with Stoll comes amid a tumultuous time for McIlroy after his attempt to return to the PGA Tour Policy Board was vetoed.

He had quit the board late last year citing personal and professional reasons, but had been expected to replace Webb Simpson upon his return.

But three of the five remaining player directors – which comprises of Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Peter Malnati, Adam Scott and Jordan Spieth – voted against the move.

Reports suggest Woods, a long-standing ally of McIlroy’s, was one of those who voted against the four-time major winner’s inclusion, with the votes being cast 3-2 for the 35-year-old to be excluded from the board. 

Patrick Cantlay is said to be one of the other members who resisted McIlroy’s return. The third dissenter is not yet known.

McIlroy was an early critic of the Saudi Public Investment Fund-financed LIV Golf tournament, which has faced claims of sportswashing, but he has since softened his stance on the breakaway circuit.

Jimmy Dunne, one of the architects of an initial agreement between PGA and the Saudis’ Public Investment Fund, resigned from the policy board yesterday saying no meaningful progress had been made.

However, McIlroy played down any reports of a strain on his relationship with golf icon Woods, with whom he is spearheading new golfing venture TGL, last week. 

‘I think friends can have disagreements or not see eye to eye on things,’ McIlroy said.

‘We had a really good talk last Friday for 45 minutes, just about a lot of different things. No, there’s no strain there.

‘I think we might see the future of golf a little bit differently, but I don’t think that should place any strain on a relationship or on a friendship.’ 

Woods said of friction between members of the policy board: ‘I think that we see it differently. But collectively as a whole we want to see whatever’s best for all the players, the fans, and the state of golf.

‘How we get there, that’s to be determined, but the fact that we’re in this together and in this fight together to make golf better is what it’s all about.’