LPGA’s Charley Hull reveals how Rory McIlroy should deal with scrutiny on personal life after Masters win
Charley Hull wants newly minted Masters champion Rory McIlroy to tune out the noise as he enjoys this long-awaited victory lap.
Speaking recently to US Weekly, the LPGA Tour star reflected on the Northern Irishman’s epic win this month at Augusta National, where he ended an 11-year major drought to capture a career Grand Slam, which cast the spotlight even brighter on his love life with wife Erica Stoll.
“At the end of the day, what people say about you, whether it’s good or bad, is irrelevant,” said Hull, who shot to a new level of fame in 2024 after lighting up cigarettes at the Women’s U.S. Open.
“If you’re doing something good, people always have bad things to say about you, and try to bring you down because you’re doing well… My famous saying is, ‘People’s opinions don’t pay my bills.’ So you’ve just got to brush it off with a pinch of salt, you know what I mean?”
McIlroy, 35, celebrated his first-ever green jacket win last Sunday with Stoll and their 4-year-old daughter, Poppy, whom he found in the crowd on the 18th after making birdie in a one-hole playoff against England’s Justin Rose.
The heartfelt embrace with Stoll came less than a year after the five-time major champion filed for divorce after seven years of marriage in May 2024. McIlroy reversed course a month later.
“There have been rumors about my personal life recently, which is unfortunate. Responding to each rumour is a fool’s game,” McIlroy said in a statement to The Guardian last June.
“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.”
That “new beginning” was on display this month at Augusta, where Stoll joined McIlroy as part of the family-and-friends-focused Par 3 contest, where Poppy put her putting skills on display.
The couple’s daughter took center stage in McIlroy’s victory speech on April 13.
“The one thing I would say to my daughter, Poppy, who’s sitting over there: never give up on your dreams. Never, ever give up on your dreams. Keep coming back, keep working hard, and if you put your mind to it, you can do anything,” he said.
Days after the victory, McIlroy was photographed exiting a private jet with Poppy after touching down in Northern Ireland.
It remains to be seen if Stoll and Poppy will be in attendance next month at Quail Hollow, where McIlroy competes for his second major of the year at the PGA Championship.
He won in 2012 and 2014.
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