Smiling broadly and stepping out this week at the Masters, Amanda Balionis has the relaxed, confident air of a woman who is exactly where she wants to be in life.
Two years after unsubstantiated rumours of an affair with champion golfer Rory McIlroy, the US TV sports presenter’s career is blossoming. And her love life is, too – having revealed a new man in her life.
As part of TV network CBS’s golf team, Balionis is covering the tournament in Augusta. And as CBS is the official network for the competition, the 39-year-old will likely interview McIlroy on Sunday if he retains the famed green jacket.
It was, of course, another interview with Balionis in 2024 that fuelled speculation about relations between the golfer and the attractive interviewer, known for her flirtatious on-air style and skill at drawing out often taciturn sportsmen.
When McIlroy failed to mention his wife Erica Stoll – the mother of their daughter – during the chat at the Wells Fargo tournament which coincided with US Mother’s Day, onlookers were bemused.
A day later, when he filed for divorce from his wife of seven years, declaring the union ‘irretrievably broken,’ bemusement turned to shock.
Looking for a reason for the unprompted announcement, observers noted the apparent closeness between Balionis and McIlroy during their interview.
Days later the Daily Mail broke the news of an alleged affair between the pair after McIlroy was seen picking up a takeaway in Balionis’s name in San Diego, California, where the presenter has a home.
In the wake of the unsubstantiated claims, it would have been easy for Balionis to become the ‘fall girl.’ But she refused to let the embarrassment derail her career.
In April last year, McIlroy finally won the Masters, securing his first green jacket in 17 years of trying. Less than a year after their rumoured liaison, Balionis interviewed him again.
If she had any nerves about meeting him face to face in the full glare of the cameras, she didn’t show it. And it is this unflappable demeanour, say insiders, that has helped her survive and thrive.
According to sports writer and author April Tod, who has covered the golf circuit for years, Balionis has ‘learned a lesson’ from the episode.
She said: ‘It is a very male-orientated world. People will quite easily pull you down. That shows how determined she was to brush everything under the carpet and prove she’s good.’
Balionis has slapped down her critics numerous times on social media and has a strong network of supporters within the game. CBS has shown new faith in her, too, and last year sent her to cover tennis at Wimbledon and the NFL.
In 2022, she married Bryn Renner, a former American footballer, but they split in 2024, the same year as her alleged affair with McIlroy.
She found love again in early 2025 with Peter Engen, an estate agent from Nantucket, Massachusetts, and posted a picture of him with her family in April.
In January this year, she removed any doubt they were an item with an Instagram photo showing them cuddled up together.
We won’t know until Sunday how McIlroy will fare at the Masters, but for now at least, with a new man and flourishing career Balionis looks like a winner.
