Rory McIlroy has swapped one familiar home base for another, returning to the UK last year with Erica Stoll and their five-year-old daughter Poppy after more than a decade in Florida. The 36-year-old now lives in Wentworth, Surrey, and says the move has sharpened his focus ahead of a crucial stretch in the season.
“We came back a few weeks ago and moved into our new home in Wentworth and have been trying to settle in,” McIlroy said. “It’s amazing what two weeks of a bit of detachment can do for you,” he added, describing “sitting there being with your own thoughts for a while” as part of what rekindled “my excitement and enthusiasm for the rest of the year.” He was speaking before the Genesis Scottish Open last year, when he also pointed to what lay ahead: “Obviously, we have this week in Scotland and then a massive week next week [for the Open] in Portrush.”
That return marked a change from the years he spent in Palm Beach, Florida, where he lived with Stoll in a mansion once owned by Ernie Els. McIlroy had previously said, “My life is here,” and explained why he had settled so comfortably in the United States: “I have an American wife. I live in America. Honestly, I enjoy it here more. The way of life is easier. The weather. The convenience.”
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The move back to Britain also brought fresh attention to the properties that have followed McIlroy through his career. He built his dream home in 2006 near Holywood in Moneyrea, County Down, Northern Ireland, on 14 acres with its own gym, driving range, tennis court and practice area at the back of the garden. McIlroy listed the mansion for sale in 2012, and it was bought a year later by former TV presenter Gary McCausland for less than the £2million asking price.
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Wentworth is now the center of McIlroy’s domestic life, and the property is said to sit near one of the tees on the three courses at the golf club. McIlroy reportedly spent £9m renovating it, a figure that underlines how seriously he has treated each place he has called home. For a player who had grown used to Florida’s ease, the Surrey return appears to have done something less obvious than change his address: it has given him back a sense of urgency just as the season turns toward Scotland and Portrush.
