Rory McIlroy reportedly served his wife divorce papers through a private investigator named Carl Woods. Court filings for the divorce were made on May 13 after the marriage was considered “irretrievably broken”, per a report from Mirror.
Records show that McIlroy digitally signed the papers at about 9 am EST on May 9. The divorce was then filed the next Monday. The documents filed cite Woods, a former police officer, private investigator, and certified process server, as the person who served the divorce papers to Erica Stoll.
This was done at their family home at around 10:30 am. She was given 20 days to file a written response to McIlroy’s petition. If she doesn’t, then she risks losing the case. The report claims that she has yet to respond, though her deadline has not passed yet. It is unclear if she plans on responding.
Rory McIlroy focused on winning amid divorce
The filing for divorce from his wife came shortly after Rory McIlroy won the Wells Fargo Championship, which in turn came just after he and Shane Lowry won the Zurich Classic. According to a source, McIlroy is all about winning even with his marriage’s expiration coming soon.
The source said via Mirror:
“He’s just trying to find himself, focus and get back to winning. [He] went through such a winning phase and hasn’t done much in the last five-ish years.”
Paul McGinley believes there’s more to it than just that, and that getting back to the winning he once did is going to be much harder. The fields he competes against are a lot more difficult in the golf analyst’s eyes.
“Back then, he was a young guy forging his way, and his elbows were at their pointiest. It was really a case of, ‘I am on a march to be the top player in the game, so get out of my way.’ He had a clear vision. As you get there and climb the mountain, can you stay there?”
According to McGinley, McIlroy has done a pretty good job of it. In PGA Tour events, he has won 10% of his starts. By comparison, Scottie Scheffler has only won 8% of his starts.
He continued:
“But there is no doubt that there is a psychological build-up from not getting over the line in major championships since he hasn’t circumnavigated yet. I say yet because if he gets it once, I feel – maybe not – that there are certainly another three or four majors in Rory McIlroy.”
Rory McIlroy has two more Major opportunities this year, both of them presumably coming in the middle of a divorce proceeding. Whether or not that will motivate or distract him remains to be seen.
