Rory McIlroy, wife Erica Stoll, show off marriage at Masters as daughter Poppy shines

If Rory McIlroy can putt as well as his 4-year-old daughter Poppy, he will almost assuredly win that illusive green jacket.
If you somehow missed it during today's Masters Tournament Par 3 Contest, McIlroy's only child with wife Erica Stoll, Poppy, gave a slight little tap on a long, downhill putt that slowly rolled down the notoriously lightning-fast greens of Augusta National, especially during Masters Tournament week.
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As McIlroy's good buddy Shane Lowry watched in anticipation, the putt found the bottom of the cup, and the Irishman and British Open (The Open Championship formally) champion jumped for joy, along with his older daughter, Iris, 8. Poppy acted like it was no big deal and hugged her proud papa, a four-time major champion himself.
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Perfect speed on the putt from Rory McIlroy's daughter Poppy 🙌 #themasters
— ESPN (@espn) April 9, 2025
(via @TheMasters) pic.twitter.com/riMN7h1nno
Also front and center was McIlroy's wife, Erica, who was there to witness all of it as a proud mother and wife.
Stoll, who worked for the PGA Tour before marrying one of the most famous golfers in the world, was always by Rory's side. Then last May, out of nowhere, the couple filed for divorce, only to rescind it one month later.
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McIlroy and Stoll released a statement around that time after some unfounded rumors: “There have been rumours about my personal life recently, which is unfortunate. Responding to each rumour is a fool's game. Over the past weeks, Erica and I have realised that our best future was as a family together. Thankfully, we have resolved our differences and look forward to a new beginning."
Besides a beautiful family moment after winning this year's Players Championship, McIlroy had adopted a much more private persona besides some comments in "Full Swing" on Netflix about it being a "wake-up call." That all changed this week.
Erica had him watch "The Devil Wears Prada" before winning the Players. This week, it's Netflix's wildly popular Shonda Rhimes period-piece soap opera "Bridgerton."
"I was very against watching it," McIlroy said at his Masters press conference. "But Erica convinced me. So we're on a bit of a 'Bridgerton' kick this week." Oh, and he's also reading "The Reckoning" by John Grisham.

And then there's Poppy, which was probably the biggest wake-up call for the two-time US Open Champion, along with a British Open and PGA Championship. The career grand slam and a Masters victory is the one he still needs, especially having not won a major since 2014. Time is running out.
“It's amazing that I can share these things with her and with Erica and - the day after the Players, she went into school and there was a couple of kids that had said some stuff to her, and she came home to me that day and said, Daddy, are you famous?"
Extremely famous. With a green jacket come Sunday, even more famous.


Matthew Graham has over 20 years of media experience and oversees The Athlete Lifestyle On SI. He has had previous leadership roles at NBC Sports, Yahoo, and USA TODAY, where he co-founded For The Win (named Best Mobile Site by Digiday). He has also written for ESPN, Cosmopolitan, US Weekly, People, E! Online, and FHM, covering major sports and entertainment events like the Oscars, the Golden Globes, NBA Finals, Super Bowl, and winning the Yahoo Superstar Award for coverage of the Olympics.