Rory McIlroy, Erica Stoll and their daughter, Poppy, were photographed together at Augusta National on Wednesday during the Masters Par 3 Contest, a family scene that landed as McIlroy returned to the course as the defending Masters champion.
Stoll carried McIlroy’s bag during the round, while Stoll and Poppy wore the white caddie jumpsuits that have become part of the contest’s look. McIlroy and Stoll were all smiles as they walked down the first hole with Shane Lowry, and the three later posed for a family picture during the event.
The moment carried extra weight because McIlroy and Stoll’s public appearance together came less than a year after he filed for divorce in May 2024, saying the marriage was irretrievably broken. They called off the divorce proceedings a month later, and the family’s appearance at Augusta offered a very different picture from the one that dominated headlines last year.
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The Par 3 Contest is held the day before the Masters and often turns into a family outing, with children walking alongside players in caddie jumpsuits. For McIlroy, it comes after a long stretch in which he won The Masters in 2025 and ended an 11-year major championship drought, then reflected on what that finish really meant. He said that if you can really find enjoyment in the journey, that is the big thing, and that he had once thought the career Grand Slam was the destination before realizing it was not the destination.
There is still a layer of old history around McIlroy and Stoll, too. A 2012 account in Alan Shipnuck’s book said McIlroy reportedly flirted with Stoll at the Ryder Cup, a detail that has followed their relationship for years. But on Wednesday, the image that mattered was simpler: a champion, his wife and their daughter, together at Augusta in the middle of Masters week.
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For a player whose career has often been measured by major titles, the scene suggested something else now has equal pull. McIlroy has already reached the summit he chased for years. The next story, at least in public view, is whether he can keep finding something worth enjoying on the way there.
