Rory McIlroy has revealed how he met his stunning fiancée, Erica Stoll — and why he dr𒉰amatically called off his engagement to tennis star Carolin🌞e Wozniacki.
The golf world No. 2 has found a new level of happiness off the golf course with Stoll. That personal conte🌃ntment, however, came after a very public breakup with Wozniacki.
But looking ahead to his rumored wedding date after the Masters in April, what it is he loves about Stoll — aside from the fact she got him to the 2♊012 Ryder Cup fi⛦rst tee on time for his crucial singles match after he missed his alarm.
“The thing I love about it is that we were friends before anything romantic happened,” said McIlroy, who pulled out of this week’s Abu Dhabi championship with a rib injury. “We met when she was working for the PGA of America and renting a condo in Palm Beach, and I found it refreshing being with someone who was living a normal life rather than, ‘Oh! My jet is 30 minutes late!’
“I could speak to her about anything, we ended up spending a bit of time together and realized that there was something more there. I love that she knows everything about me, and there was no judgment there. There was no judgment from Day 1, which is huge, because that’s very hard to find for someone in my position.”
It was a marked change 💮from his relationship with Wozniacki. He stated that he and the tennis star fell in love because they had so much in common, being at the top of their respective sports.
The relationship lasted from 2011 to 2014 before McIlroy broke it all off after the wedding invites had been sent and just before the start of that year’s BMW PGA Championship. He went on to win that week and then captured the British Open and PGA Championship later that year.
The Northern Irishman admitted the ൲reཧd-carpet lifestyle was too much for him.
“I thought at the time that being with someone that was in a similar position to you was the obvious answer,” McIlroy said. “But it isn’t, because you can never get away from it. You can never detach yourself and try to come back to the real world. And that’s why I feel in such a good place now. I don’t feel Erica wants to change me in any way. I can be myself around her; there’s no bulls–t, no acting, no show.”