Rory McIlroy’s first love – why they split to marriage with hockey star | Golf | Sport

McIlroy’s relationship with Stoll has garnered headlines in the past, with the pair having filed for divorce back in 2024. That was retracted a month later, after they appeared to put their differences behind them.

But way before Stoll was on the scene, McIlroy had a childhood sweetheart, Holly Sweeney. The two had started dating when they were both teenagers, but split from each other in 2011.

McIlroy quickly started seeing tennis ace Caroline Wozniacki after they broke up, with Sweeney breaking her silence on the relationship ending shortly after. She told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “I think I was just in shock with what had happened.

“We hadn’t been back together very long and I thought things were going really well, but then to be sat down and told – that was just a shock. I was just upset that he hadn’t learned anything from the separation before. I felt like all the effort I put in to make the relationship work was completely wasted.”

Sweeney, who later married ice hockey star Jeff Mason, was later asked if she believed the relationship with Wozniacki would last, to which the Irishwoman said: “I think he’s done things completely differently with Caroline than he did with me, and they seem to be loved up. So yes, I think it will last a good while.”

McIlroy and Wozniacki eventually got engaged in December 2013, but that relationship was broken off a few months later. He later began dating Stoll, whom he first met at the 2012 Ryder Cup.

Following his second Augusta National triumph, McIlroy highlighted his family as one of the reasons why he was able to go back-to-back. McIlroy noted: “This is the hard part. I want to say a few thank yous to the people on my left. First and foremost, my wife and daughter, Erica and Poppy.

“They have to put up with me at home and, trust me, sometimes that’s a tough thing to do. But they have been my biggest supporters. This has definitely turned into Poppy’s favourite week of the year. I don’t know if it’s because of the Par 3 Tournament or it’s the all-you-can-eat ice cream in the players’ services building.”