RTL 5minutes – McIlroy confident in the game, silent on his divorce and “ready to play” PGA

Rory McIlroy remained quiet about his divorce plans but confident in his golf match Wednesday at the PGA Championship, where he is aiming for his first major triumph in a decade.

A day after announcing he had filed for divorce Monday from Erica, his wife of seven years, McIlroy made his first public comments, saying only when asked about his energy and personal state: “I’m ready to play this week.

World number two McIlroy’s shock breakup has called into question his status among the favorites at Valhalla, the course where the 35-year-old from Northern Ireland won his most recent of his four major titles 10 years ago.

“Today was my first time on the golf course in 10 years, so it was good to refamiliarize myself with the place,” McIlroy said.

“A little longer, some small minor changes but for the most part pretty much the same as I remember from 10 years ago.”

McIlroy tees off Thursday morning hoping to maintain momentum from a victory Sunday at the Wells Fargo Championship, his fourth career triumph at Quail Hollow and a PGA Tour pairs victory last month at the New Orleans alongside his Irish friend Shane Lowry.

“I’m just trying to keep the momentum going,” McIlroy said. “I think it’s all about confidence and momentum and I have a lot of confidence and quite a bit of momentum going into this week.”

McIlroy is also carrying more than his usual share of turmoil given his personal rift.

Erica Stoll was working for the PGA of America when she met McIlroy in 2012 at the Ryder Cup. They began dating in 2015, got engaged in December 2015 while vacationing in Paris, and married in April 2017 in an Irish castle.

Their three-year-old daughter, Poppy, was born in 2020.

McIlroy previously dated Danish tennis star Caroline Wozniacki from 2011 to 2014. They became engaged on December 31, 2013, but McIlroy announced in May 2014 that he had ended their engagement.

Lest anyone think McIlroy can’t deal with his personal emotions and his main golf rivals, he won four days after his split with Wozniacki at Wentworth on the European Tour.

Over the next three months, McIlroy won the 2014 British Open, the WGC Bridgestone Championship at Firestone and the PGA Championship at Valhalla.

McIlroy said his game is in a strong position, based on technical fitness and shot making.

“Some of the shots I hit last week, some of the three-quarters, some of the wedge shots, some of the iron shots, combined with how good I feel with the driver at that moment, and those shots corners that are going and starting on the right line, that gives me a lot of confidence,” he said.

– Setbacks of the PGA-PIF merger –

McIlroy spoke about the PGA Tour’s merger negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the backers of LIV Golf, and Monday’s resignation of Jimmy Dunne from the Tour’s Policy Council.

Dunne complained about the lack of role in the negotiations shortly after the formation of a transaction subcommittee for direct negotiations that included McIlroy but not Dunne.

“I think it’s a huge loss for the PGA Tour, if they’re trying to do this deal with the PIF and unify the game,” McIlroy said.

“Jimmy was basically ‘the’ relationship, the kind of connection between the PGA Tour and the PIF.

“It’s a real shame he hasn’t been involved over the last few months and part of the reason everything is stagnating at the moment is because of that.”

McIlroy said his confidence level in reaching a deal was “as low as it had been” before and now “it’s concerning.”