No wedding ring for golf star Rory McIlroy at U.S. Open

Article content

PINEHURST, N.C. — Winning a fifth major championship this week no doubt has a certain ring to it for Rory McIlroy, but so far he has been chasing the U.S. Open title without wearing his wedding band.

Article content

Despite confirming reports of a reconciliation with his wife, Eric Stoll, the Northern Irish superstar has yet to be seen in public wearing his ring.

The four-time major champion has often played tournament golf with his silver band on, including last month at the Wells Fargo Championship before news of the couple’s split broke.

Earlier this week, The Guardian‘s Ewan Murray reported that McIlroy and Stoll had called off the divorce.

“There have been rumours about my personal life recently, which is unfortunate. Responding to each rumour is a fool’s game,” The Guardian article quotes McIlroy as saying.

“Over the past weeks, Erica and I have realized that our best future was as a family together. Thankfully, we have resolved our differences and look forward to a new beginning.”

Article content

McIlroy appeared in good spirits two weeks ago in Canada at the RBC Canadian Open and again was in a relaxed mood leading into the season’s third major here in Pinehurst.

A stark contrast to the more guarded McIlroy that fans and media saw last last month at the PGA Championship, where news of his divorce shocked golf fans.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

The golfer was off to a good start at the difficult Pinehurst No. 2 course on Thursday afternoon, starting his U.S. Open two-under-par through six holes and near the top of the leaderboard.

“I’ve been on a pretty good run of U.S. Open performances over the last few years,” McIlroy said before the tournament. “Had a close call at LACC last year, obviously Wyndham (Clark) just pipping me to the post there.

“But I feel like I really struggled at U.S. Open setups, 2016, ’17, ’18 in particular. I sort of had a bit of a I guess come-to-Jesus moment after that, tried to really figure out why that was. Then my performances from 2019 and after that have been really, really good.”

McIlroy was runner-up last year, and has finished inside the top-10 at every U.S. Open since 2019.

Share this article in your social network