Among the spirited celebration of Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph, Rory McIlroy’s enthusiastic words to his wife Erica Stoll stood out remarkably.

‘What a year,’ declared the Northern Irish golfing superstar, as he reached out to enfold the slender American in the warmest of embraces.

It was a storybook ending to a tournament that had devolved into a near-frenzy, with aggressive jeers from US fans and a thrown beer cup narrowly missing the composed Erica as she accompanied her husband’s team.

The drunken, baying US supporters hurling abuse at the European golfers were a world away from the genteel image usually associated with the sport. 

The rowdy spectators took specific aim at Rory, his wife, and their marital life, with unruly and sometimes hostile behavior intended to interfere with the competition.

Those three words were the balm after the storm – and so much can be conveyed by them.

Rory might have been reflecting on his stellar athletic achievements this year, notably clinching the long-coveted career Grand Slam by winning the Masters in April, and then concluding with Europe’s Ryder Cup victory on Sunday.

But if the 36-year-old golfer was also referring to a tumultuous time in his personal life, it would be no surprise.

Just 16 months ago, Rory stunned the golf community worldwide by unexpectedly filing for divorce in Florida, declaring that his seven-year marriage was beyond repair.

It was three days before the start of the PGA championship, which he went on to play without his wedding ring.

Rumours then swirled (without, it should be said, any apparent foundation) about some sort of relationship between Rory and a glamorous American sports reporter named Amanda Balionis, who had also been seen without her wedding ring.

And then, a month later, it was all change again as Rory, who has a five-year-old daughter Poppy with Erica, declared: ‘Over the past weeks, Erica and I have realised that our best future was as a family together.’

Fast-forward 15 months and the McIlroys have, as one source close to the golfer tells the Daily Mail this week, ‘reset’.

Earlier this summer they moved their main residence from Florida, where they have a £16million mansion in an exclusive, gated community, to a similarly sumptuous, renovated mansion on the Wentworth estate in Surrey.

Erica, meanwhile, stepped on to the most public and challenging of golfing stages last week, very much front and centre of the Rory McIlroy support squad.

Never one of the most visible figures on the circuit, Erica surprised Ryder Cup fans with daily appearances at New York’s Bethpage Black course, in a rotating uniform of elegant neutrals.

Sporting a golden tan and a wide smile, there was no mistaking the pride in her gaze as she reached out for a kiss and a warm embrace as her husband walked towards her after his team clinched victory on Sunday afternoon.

What she said in reply to his remarks about the last year wasn’t audible above the riotous cheers.

But her very presence on the green with fellow wives and girlfriends was a statement of its own, given that the day before she had reportedly been reduced to tears by some of the vitriol hurled on the course.

The abuse directed at McIlroy over the three days of the competition is widely regarded as unprecedented.

‘How’s your divorce going?’, was the least of it. ‘F*** you, Rory!’ was a common jibe.

For that hostility to have extended to a player’s wife was, insiders agree, beyond the pale.

On Saturday, as she walked towards the 17th hole, Erica was targeted by a cup of beer being lobbed her way by a vulgar onlooker. She met the indignity with an icy stare – a riposte that might as well have been delivered not just to that incident but as a response to a year of scrutiny into their marriage.

But what a difference a day – and a trophy – can make.

On the triumphant team bus on Sunday, clutching a glass of champagne, Erica sat beside her jubilant husband as the celebrations were in full flow. 

In a short video clip, filmed by the caddie of Europe team mate Justin Rose, players performed their unique version of Zombie by The Cranberries in honour of their victorious Masters-winning talisman.

‘He’s in your head, in your head.… Rory, Rory, Rory’ they sang, while gesticulating towards the Irishman.

And there, hair swept back into a ponytail, was Erica – glowing as she joined in the chorus.

As one source, who has worked closely with McIlroy off the course, maintains, their reconciliation wasn’t just PR theatre. ‘It was a genuine reset as far as I can see. They look stronger than ever.’

Certainly, Rory’s teammates appear to hold Erica, who, coincidentally, met her husband while working for the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) at the Ryder Cup back in 2012, in high esteem.

Following victory, Shane Lowry, McIlroy’s playing partner, was effusive about her composure. ‘I was out there for two days with Erica McIlroy, and the amount of abuse that she received was astonishing,’ he stated.

‘The way she was out there supporting her husband and supporting her team was unbelievable, and kudos to her for that.’

The highest praise of all, however, came from Rory. ‘Erica is fine. She’s a very, very strong woman. She handled everything this week with class and poise and dignity like she always has. I love her and we’re going to have a good time celebrating [this win].’

Whatever rocked the McIlroy marriage, certainly they could not have delivered a more solid statement of togetherness last weekend.

And it is the low-profile Erica who has shown she is every bit as steely as her husband.

As one golfing insider says: ‘There was some awful abuse on Saturday and when it came to Sunday, there was part of me wondering if she would be back out. But she was, which I think was very ballsy of her.’

Indeed, the Daily Mail understands Erica, along with the other WAGs, was offered a contingency plan, so they did not have to run the gauntlet of the public outing.

‘The decision not to do that was made by the wives and girlfriends and Erica was part of that,’ says a source. ‘There were conversations and she chose not to take the get-out.’

For all the fanfare and very public show of support and affection in New York, there are, however, observers of the McIlroy camp who question the solidity of this ‘reset’.

Rebuilding a troubled marriage against the backdrop of the demands of being am international sportsman cannot be easy.

As a source close to the player’s management says: ‘He can live two different lives. His golf and all the fame and razzmatazz associated with that is a separate part of him to the dad and husband part.

‘I wouldn’t assume that because he’s playing well and holding her hand in public, that everything’s great at home, but I can tell you that he’s trying.

‘I just think that golf will always, always come first and I can see that his wife might find that difficult to live with.’

Certainly such a view would echo what sources told Us Weekly, when divorce papers were served last May, that Erica was feeling ‘lonely’ because they were effectively leading separate lives. Another McIlroy associate tells the Daily Mail this week that, however things may look in public, strains still exist.

‘I don’t think I’m going to surprise anyone by saying that,’ says the associate. ‘I’m not saying that he’s looking to get divorced or anything. Staying married allows him to avoid the spectacle of a public divorce, protect his brand, and shield personal drama from the press.

‘If he were to separate officially, everything becomes fair game – alimony, custody, tabloid stories. His legal advisers will have told him to think twice and not rush into divorce.

‘His fortune is over £200 million. They might not know his heart, but they know his business. The marriage is probably not entirely ‘fixed’, but running on optics, and mutual self-interest. 

‘Aren’t all marriages where there’s a famous person involved? Erica is his emotional anchor – not just a background figure but someone whose presence matters. The trouble is, that her presence matters because she does everything, allowing him to play golf. 

‘But what’s she getting from it? I get the feeling he is very much in charge – he is still weighing up his options. I feel sorry for her.’

Whether Erica wants anyone’s sympathies, however, is another matter. She has walked her own path on the golfing circuit and never courted publicity.

Born in New York, she is in many ways the ultimate golfing wife, having worked for the PGA after leaving college with a degree in marketing. It was while working as office manager and in charge of championship volunteer operations that she saved Rory from disaster.

He overslept during the 2012 Ryder Cup and nearly missed his tee time. It was Erica who arranged a police escort to get him to the course in Medinah, Illinois, in time.

Back then, of course, McIlroy was dating tennis player Caroline Wozniacki; a relationship that ended under a rather dramatic cloud when he dumped her abruptly, just after she had sent out wedding invitations.

Observers at the time attributed the split in part to Rory’s ego and the fact that Caroline was not only his sporting equal, but sometimes the better-known half of their pairing.

They split in the spring of 2014, and later that year, Rory and Erica quietly began dating.

They got engaged in Paris in 2015 and shortly afterwards, he gave an interview in which he spoke about his fiancée’s desire to stay out of the spotlight. ‘Erica has been around me quite a lot at tournaments, but we have really just tried to keep it low-key. She is a very low-key person, not the kind to broadcast stuff,’ he said.

Although there was plenty of buzz surrounding the couple’s 2017 wedding, they managed to keep the details under wraps.

The celebration unfolded at the 13th-century Ashford Castle in County Mayo, with guests including One Direction’s Niall Horan, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Ed Sheeran and actor Jamie Dornan, who grew up in the same town in County Down as McIlroy. Stevie Wonder provided entertainment.

The couple, who welcomed daughter Poppy in 2020, had made their main residence a sprawling nine-bedroom, ten-bathroom mansion in Florida’s exclusive Bear’s Club, founded by golf legend Jack Nicklaus, where basketball star Michael Jordan and tennis sisters Venus and Serena Williams are neighbours.

But Rory, whose property portfolio has included an apartment in Dubai and homes in New York and California, as well as County Down spoke earlier this year of moving into a new home in Wentworth which they are said to have spent £9million renovating.

It had been thought they might move when Poppy was ready for secondary school, so what has triggered the move now is unclear.

Erica, the Daily Mail understands, has not made herself a presence at the estate’s clubhouse or in any club activities.

‘She has yet to reach out to neighbours but seemingly prefers to keep to herself,’ says one Wentworth insider.

‘Neighbours find it strange as many living on the estate form firm friendships – is it too early or is Erica avoiding anyone outside her tight-knit circle from peering into her marriage?’

Or perhaps, she was just waiting to join Rory on that team bus, savour a glass of champagne and remark, as her husband did, on what a year it has been.