EXCLUSIVE: Rory McIlroy and CBS sports journalist Amanda Balionis spark romance rumors in wake of his divorce from wife Erica Stoll with flirty TV interviews after married reporter ditches her ring
The sports journalist, 38, hasn’t been seen with her wedding ring since February
He’s filed for divorce. She’s ditched her wedding ring and abandoned her married name. Coincidence? Well, maybe not.
In fact, DailyMail.com can reveal, Rory McIlroy’s relationship with CBS’s 19th Hole reporter Amanda Balionis is the talk of the links and has left many fans wondering just how close the pair have become.
Last week, it fell to blonde Balionis to interview the 35-year-old champion after he won the Wells Fargo Championship in Quail Hollow, North Carolina on Mother’s Day.
It was a performance that only fanned the flames.
Dressed in a blush top that matched with McIlroy’s own, Balionis giggled, flirted, and fangirled her way through the interview.
What gear did you have to find to assert your dominance once more over Quail Hollow?’ the 34-year-old asked, looking through her lashes as McIlroy beamed back at her.
They stood close. She teased out details of his string of wins.
Later, she asked him to tell her: ‘Physically how good your game feels,’ and fans could be forgiven for wondering just what ‘game’ the blushing reporter was referencing.
Barely 24 hours later, news broke that McIlroy had filed for divorce from wife of seven years Erica Stoll, 36.
But standing in the Charlotte sunshine on May 11, McIlroy appeared happy to bask in this clear adoration.
Balionis pointed out that McIlroy was wearing his ‘Mother’s Day’ pink but, while she asked him to pay tribute to his mother, Rosie, she did not extend the same invitation for him to wax lyrical about Stoll, the mother of his three-year-old daughter, Poppy.
So it was Rosie, not Stoll, whom McIlroy credited as ‘the sort of rock and gel that holds our family together.’
Summing up his mood, McIlroy told Balionis: ‘It feels like the stars are aligning.’
Certainly, when it comes to his relationship with the longtime CBS golf reporter, their chemistry and ease in each other’s presence is clear.
And when set alongside the golfer’s impending divorce and questions over the state of Balionis’s own marriage, fans have been quick to join what some say are obvious dots.
Friends close to McIlroy’s estranged wife have said that Stoll felt ‘lonely’ in their marriage and that the couple had effectively been living separate lives for the past two years and while McIlroy played in the PGA tour.
According to the source: ‘She knew what she was getting into with his profession, but once they had Poppy, things really changed, and she had a new perspective.
‘Erica was usually absent for most of his tournaments and was really focused on Poppy.’
And while Stoll stayed home to look after their daughter, Balionis was out on the courses ever present to appreciate McIlroy and co in action and in person.
Speaking to US Weekly an insider said: ‘A point of contention in Rory’s marriage with Erica was that Erica was lonely in their marriage.’
McIlroy as, the source added, is ‘a hard person to be married to.’
But judging from her broad smiles he is not, for Balionis at least, a hard person to be around.
For his part McIlroy seems happy to lend his name and support to causes dear to Balionis’s heart.
In April he took time out of his busy schedule to film a short video supporting Puppies & Golf, the non-profit founded by Balionis in 2020 and aimed at advocating for rescue dogs, rehousing and in some instances retraining them as support animals for veterans.
Filmed at the PGA Zurich Classic in New Orleans, McIlroy showed his support for Balionis’s mission as he petted an adorable crossbreed and said, ‘Hi everyone I’m Rory McIlroy and this is Cuddles.
‘Cuddles is waiting to be adopted and find her forever home. So, if you feel so inclined, if you want to adopt her cl
ick the link and you’ll know where to find her.
In recent months, fans have questioned what’s going on with Balionis’s two-year marriage to college football coach-turned tech company account manager, Bryn Renner, 34.
The sports journalist and former University of North Carolina quarterback got engaged in 2021 and married in 2022.
But in recent appearances Balionis has not been wearing her wedding band – the sparkler disappeared from view on social media in February.
And while neither party has filed for divorce, as rumored online, the reporter has switched her X username from her married moniker of Balionis Renner back to her maiden name of Balionis.
And while there have been no sightings of Balionis with her wedding ring or her husband lately, according to one source, McIlroy has been seen spending time ‘all around San Diego. More specifically…the Crown Point neighborhood of Pacific Beach.’
The neighborhood, more than 2,500 miles from McIlroy’s home in Jupiter, Florida, is where Balionis lives in a two-bed home she bought for $789,000 in 2020.
According to the source: ‘My sister was at a restaurant, and he came in to pick up a “to go” and used the name ‘Amanda’ as the pick-up. He paid cash – only a few people noticed him, and he was out!’
Neither McIlroy nor Stoll have commented publicly on their split, save for an official statement on May 14 from McIlroy’s communications team in which they confirmed the filing.
Those court documents filed in Palm Beach County last week were obtained by DailyMail.com.
They state that the marriage was ‘irretrievably broken.
The petition for divorce also states that the pair had signed a prenuptial agreement, but the details of that agreement have not been divulged.
McIlroy’s attorney is listed as Thomas Sasser, the same attorney who represented Tiger Woods in his divorce in 2010.
The filing also calls for shared custody and a parenting plan to be established for Poppy.
The four-time Major winner whose career earnings are estimated to top $87million failed to replicate his success of ten years ago when he played the PGA Championship at Valhalla last weekend.
It was the Kentucky course that brought him his last Major win, way back in 2014.
