The Northern Irishman famously claimed his first ever Masters victory last month to finally complete a career Grand Slam, but he may have his wife to thank for one aspect of his preparations
Professionalism, preparation and a whole lot of skill helped Rory McIlroy to a remarkable victory at the 2025 Masters Tournament last month but watching Netflix’s Bridgerton also played its part.
The dust has finally settled on the Northern Irishman’s emotional yet remarkable victory at Augusta National on April 14, where he defeated Englishman Justin Rose in a nail-biting play-off to become just the sixth golfer in history to achieve a career Grand Slam. The success also landed McIlroy an eye-watering $4.2 million in prize money, taking him ever closer to equalling Tiger Woods at the top of the career earnings leaderboard, who currently leads the way with $120,999,166 to his name.
Having tried and failed in 16 previous attempts to win the Masters, however, McIlroy knew he had to switch things up if he was to avoid another failure this year. Along with the six sleeping habits he already swears by as a professional athlete in order to help elevate his performance, utilizing the most of his down time was also of utmost importance.
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“The week of the Masters, for me, I’m just trying to distract myself with doing anything. I’m trying not to watch coverage of the tournament, I’m trying not to watch anything about the golf. You try to just not look at the sports news,” McIlroy told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show this week. “So, like, read a book, watch a show, watch a movie.”
Fallon immediately interrupted McIlroy to ask exactly which shows or what movies he’s been watching, to which the golfer responded with an answer that perhaps many would not have expected.
“So, I was watching ‘Bridgerton’ with my wife, which was her decision, but I actually got into it,” McIlroy revealed with a wry smile to an amused-looking Fallon and a surprised audience. “It was good,” he added, to which Fallon agreed with: “Yeah, absolutely.”
The 35-year-old then revealed that on the Saturday morning of the tournament, he watched “Zootopia” with his four-year-old daughter, Poppy, which again provoked a humorous reaction from the crowd. “You’re just trying to distract yourself,” McIlroy explained.
However, it was his revelation about watching Bridgerton that caught the most attention, especially seeing as it was his wife, Erica Stoll, who seemingly came up with the idea of making him watch the popular Netflix drama, which focuses on eight close-knit siblings looking for love in London during England’s Regency era, before he teed off at the Masters.
In fact, McIlroy had admitted ahead of Sunday’s final day of play that he had been getting stuck into the series as part of his preparation for the biggest weekend of his career to date, stating: “I’ve got into Bridgerton – I didn’t think I would. I was very against watching it, but Erica convinced me. So we’re on a bit of a Bridgerton kick this week, yeah.”
It would appear, however, that it is the New York native who rules the remote in the McIlroy household. Ahead of winning his second Players Championship title in March, the world No. 2 also revealed that he had watched the chick-flick “The Devil Wears Prada,” the night before his Monday morning playoff victory over J.J. Spaun.
When asked how he prepared for an extra day of action following the previous day’s weather troubles at TPC Sawgrass, McIlroy said: “Once I got back to the hotel, I had some room service, watched a little bit of Devil Wears Prada and went to bed. And that was basically it.”
McIlroy’s surprise admission certainly amused the media in the room, who were understandably stunned to hear that the PGA Tour star had opted to watch the iconic Meryl Streep movie as a way of relaxing before a huge day of golf. Regardless, it appeared to do the trick – just as watching Bridgerton did on Masters weekend.
McIlroy’s appearance on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ was his fourth so far, having debuted in 2014 before returning in 2019 and 2021. The golf icon vowed he would not return to the show until he had a Green Jacket in his possession, yet he managed to fulfill that promise on Thursday, and Fallon was left impressed by the five-time major champion’s new threads.
- Source: NEWHD MEDIA
