Rory McIlroy is happily engaged to Erica Stoll, but it wasn’t too long ago that he was dating and engaged to former No. 1 tennis player Caroline Wozniacki. Though the two had fun together and appeared to be a cute couple on the outside, McIlroy later realized marrying Wozniacki was not a good idea.
The golfer discussed many topics in an interview with the Irish Independent, including his relationships. McIlroy doesn’t hold anything against Wozniacki, but he does know why dating another top athlete was wrong 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 of dating Wozniacki. “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—, no acting, no show.”
McIlroy contrasted being with Wozniacki to his current girlfriend, Stoll.
“The thing I love about it is that we were friends before anything romantic happened. 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!’ McIlroy told the Independent.
“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 judgement there. There was no judgement from day one, which is huge, because that’s very hard to find for someone in my position.”
McIlroy fell into a slump while dating Wozniacki, which many attributed to the relationship. Some, such as Nick Faldo, felt McIlroy wasn’t focused enough on golf and practicing and was being distracted. Now McIlroy doesn’t have to worry about flying halfway across the world to be with his love, which means his support system is much better and helpful towards his career. In fact, McIlroy won two majors in the months after splitting with Wozniacki and was named PGA Tour Player of the Year that year.
