Surprise! Rory McIlroy and his wife, Erica, are expecting a baby girl. McIlroy confirmed the happy news after finishing his third round at the BMW Championship, where he sits in a tie for sixth.
Golf Channel’s Steve Sands was the first to report the news during the tournament broadcast, saying Erica is due “any day now” with the couple’s first child.
“We’re about to be parents very soon, so we’re obviously super excited,” McIlroy said. “Yeah, we’ve been sharing the news with friends and family, obviously, but I didn’t think it was something that I really particularly needed to share out here. It’s a private matter, but we’re really excited and can’t wait for her to get here.”
McIlroy said he would leave either this week’s tournament or next week’s Tour Championship should the baby be close to being delivered. He said his caddie, Harry Diamond, is carrying a phone.
“I’m going to play in many more Tour Championships, and it’s only going to be the birth of your first child once,” McIlroy said. “That trumps anything else.”
Rory and Erica were married at Ashford Castle in Co. Mayo, Ireland, in April 2017.
While Rory is one of the most famous players on Tour and has garnered a reputation for freely and thoughtfully expressing his opinions, Erica tends to keep a low profile and has largely stayed out of the limelight.
“Erica has been around me quite a lot at tournaments but we have really just tried to keep it low key,” Rory once told the Independent. “She is a very low key person, not the kind to broadcast stuff, but that side of my life is really good just now.”