After breaking a 16 year drought at Augusta National just a year ago, Rory McIlroy claimed his second green jacket and received the love of his family and friends.
McIlroy has become the fourth golfer in history to win back-to-back Masters Tournaments – having broken his duck last year and clinching a career Grand Slam.
After holing out his putt on the 18th green, an emotional McIlroy walked into the gallery, stooped down and hugged his daughter, Poppy.
He then beckoned over his wife, Erica Stoll – planting a kiss on her and pulling her into an embrace before receiving congratulations from other members of his family.
The victorious native of Holywood, County Down, then raised his arms in triumph as he walked his way to the Augusta National club house. There, he was hugged by friends Shane Lowry and Tommy Fleetwood.
It’s McIlroy’s second green jacket – won exactly one year after he clinched his first.
He becomes the fourth player in history to win back-to-back Masters – joining Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and idol-turned-friend Tiger Woods.
After holding the outright lead for the opening 54 holes, McIlroy entered the final round tied for the lead with New York native Cameron Young.
He briefly surrendered the lead to Young, but McIlroy had the better of his playing partner by the time they made the turn.
McIlroy then managed to get past familiar foe Justin Rose and held his lead through the rest of the second nine to clinch victory at Augusta for a second straight year.
It’s the sixth major that McIlroy has won in his career. The Masters are now the second major that he’s won twice, having previously won the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island in 2012 and at Valhalla in 2014.
The embrace and kiss between McIlroy and Stoll comes nearly two years after a turbulent moment in the couple’s relationship.
In May 2024, McIlroy filed for divorce from the former PGA of America employee. But within a matter of weeks, those filings were withdrawn.
‘We have resolved our differences and look forward to a new beginning,’ McIlroy said at the time.
New details of what led to the divorce were recently divulged in a new book by golf writer Alan Shipnuck, titled, ‘Rory: The Heartache and Triumph of Golf’s Most Human Superstar.’
Shipnuck drew comparison between the relationship between McIlroy and Stoll and that of Woods and his ex-wife, Elin Nordgren – who Woods cheated on throughout their marriage.
While accusations to that extent have never been leveled at McIlroy, unsubstantiated rumors that he was seeing CBS golf reporter Amanda Balionis persisted around the time of the divorce filing.
The storm contributed to Stoll shunning the spotlight, repeatedly declining to do interviews or visiting McIlroy on tour and instead staying at home with Poppy, the book says.
It was the Daily Mail who first reported the links between McIlroy and Balionis. Shipnuck’s book says that people close to McIlroy and Balionis insist they were never romantically involved but that when he started researching for his book, 90 percent of questions he was asked were about the pair.
In an interview between the golfer and reporter in May 2024, after he won the Wells Fargo Championship in Quail Hollow, North Carolina, they were both laughing and seemingly flirting with each other.
Balionis asked McIlroy to explain ‘physically how good your game feels’. And McIlroy told Balionis that at the moment ‘it feels like the stars are aligning.’
The next day, it emerged McIIroy wanted a divorce. He and Stoll had been together for seven years when McIlroy shocked the golfing world by filing for the split in Palm Beach County, Florida, saying his marriage was ‘irretrievably broken’.
But just one month later the pair announced they had decided to stay together.
In a statement at the time, McIlroy said that ‘Erica and I have realized that our best future was as a family together’.
McIlroy later called the episode a ‘wake-up call’.
Shipnuck writes: ‘It didn’t help that Erica had become a neo-Elin Woods, never doing any interviews and remaining unknown to the golf public’.
While McIlroy would, for the most part, talk openly to the press and enjoyed chatting with other golfers, Stoll would often remain at home with Poppy and not come on the tours.
Despite the U-Turn in circumstances, Shipnuck still points a finger at McIlroy and his actions.
He writes: ‘The short-lived divorce proceedings and hasty reconciliation said more about him than her.
‘If you are an internationally famous athlete heading toward becoming a billionaire, it is probably unwise to file for divorce unless you are one million percent certain there is zero chance to save the marriage.
‘But McIlroy’s life has been defined by impetuousness, on the golf course and in matters of business and romance.
‘The recklessness is part of what makes him appealing’.
