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ALISON BOSHOFF: The blonde American whose flirty interview with Rory McIlroy set the world of golf buzzing after his divorce revelation... and why friends say it's 'textbook behaviour' from a sportsman who 'doesn't like to be alone'
When Rory McIlroy ruthlessly dispatched his seven-year marriage to pretty Erica Stoll two weeks ago, there was widespread shock from many media quarters.
Theirs, it was thought, was a picture-perfect union, complete with a three-year-old angelic blonde daughter, Poppy.
That shock, however, didn't extend to one person who is close to McIlroy, who was not surprised by the revelation that the golfer's marriage to Stoll was over at precisely the same moment he and another pretty blonde, American TV presenter Amanda Balionis, were apparently drawing ever closer.
'No one will be surprised that Rory has someone else lined up,' a source close to the multimillionaire Northern Irishman told me in plain terms.
'It's textbook behaviour. Look back at his love life. This isn't a guy who likes to be alone. The next conquest always appears before the current one goes. I've known the guy a long time, and there is always an overlap.'
The golfer's marriage to Stoll was over at precisely the same moment he and another pretty blonde, American TV presenter Amanda Balionis (pictured), were apparently drawing ever closer
Who is Amanda Balionis, the TV presenter so enamoured with McIlroy? Pictured, Rory McIlroy being interviewed by Amanda Balionis
Rory McIlroy recently filed for divorce from Erica Stoll - the couple first tied the knot in 2017
Aside from the temptations and travelling which seems to have put paid to McIlroy's union with Stoll is the fact he has been under considerable professional stress. Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and team Europe and wife Erica Stoll attend the opening ceremony for the 43rd Ryder Cup
And, indeed, 35-year-old McIlroy's past seems to affirm the confidence of this statement.
After all, he famously broke the heart of his first love, Holly Sweeney – whom he met when she was 14 and he was 16 – when they split in 2011 after he fell for Caroline Wozniacki, the World No 1 tennis star.
And of course, he went on to notoriously break Wozniacki's heart in 2014, dumping her just after she had sent out their wedding invitations.
Two years prior to their devastating split, he had met New Yorker Stoll, who worked for the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA). And, in the very week his divorce from Stoll was announced, all eyes were on McIlroy's seemingly burgeoning relationship with CBS presenter Amanda Balionis, as they flirted together in a television interview.
My source agreed, saying: 'I think he and Amanda are close, and there are lots of rumours circulating. She's his type – blonde, which is his preference.
'I was very close to Rory when his relationship with Caroline ended, and we were telling him not to be rash.
'But he was desperate to move on once he'd made the decision. He'd decided he wanted someone homely and not dashing around all over the place at sports events.
'Now he's bored with homely and is bound to go for someone dashing around all over the place and going to sports events. It's funny, really. Caroline must be laughing her socks off.'
In McIlroy's past, there is also a high-profile romance with model Nadia Forde in 2014, and there were even rumoured links to Meghan Markle, pre-Prince Harry, in the same year.
But in the context of the bunkers and bunk-ups world of international golf, even this makes him pretty much one of the innocents.
During golf tournaments, there is a lively social scene. Players and their entourages can be found in hotel bars or local restaurants as the tour moves from country to country. Organisations like the PGA habitually employ pretty young golf fans to do administrative roles, while sponsors similarly send teams of attractive women who orbit the players.
Amanda Ballonis has presented golf coverage for the American CBS network since 2017
Aside from the temptations and travelling which seems to have put paid to McIlroy's union with Stoll is the fact he has been under considerable professional stress
Some wives insist on coming with their husbands so they can keep an eye on them. But often, once there are children who need to be in school, this falls away –which appears to be what happened to McIlroy and Stoll – meaning husbands spend most of the year separated from their wives and families.
No wonder, then, the sport is such a matrimonial graveyard.
So who is Amanda Balionis, the TV presenter so enamoured with McIlroy? She has presented golf coverage for the American CBS network since 2017. A source at CBS who knows her well said: 'Amanda has always wanted to be on television. It's her dream. She's very likeable, but one of the most ambitious people I've met. I've known her for a long time. She won't mind having her name linked to the [McIlroy] story because of the profile it's giving her. I know she'll be loving it.'
Almost two years ago, Balionis was blissfully announcing her engagement to her long-term boyfriend Bryn Renner, a sports star-turned-football coach.
The pair had a lavish beach wedding on December 3, 2022 in La Jolla, San Diego's 'jewel by the sea', posing in front of a neon sign reading 'The Renners'. The bride and groom even wore matching Nike hi-top sneakers.
Fast-forward 14 months to April of this year, however, and her wedding ring was off.
McIlroy, who is said to be worth £225 million, announced his divorce the day after the interview. Pictured, Rory McIlroy and Erica Stoll
Then, on May 12, beneath an Instagram picture of her interviewing golf superstar Rory McIlroy on CBS, a friend, Camille Stroud, wrote 'You two' alongside a heart emoji.
The very next day, McIlroy, who is said to be worth £225 million, announced his divorce.
In that light, the interview with Balionis, which took place the day before, seems faintly excruciating.
Both wore pink, and seemed warmly at ease in each other's company – double entendres abounded. Among Balionis' questions were: 'What gear did you have to find to assert your dominance once more?'
She also invited him, almost blushing, to tell her 'physically how good your game feels'.
Several days later, on May 16, an anonymous Twitter post made explicit the inference hinted at by Balionis' pal Camille Stroud.
It read: 'So Rory was possibly getting with Amanda Balionis from CBS. It's a rumour I heard from the divorce. That would be a spicy meatball if true. I like both of them. Maybe I made it up.'
T o date, there has been no comment from McIlroy's management or Ms Balionis' New York PR representatives at the firm 42 West.
And so the rumours have started to be treated as fact.
It would be routine for untrue reports to be denied.
Aside from the temptations and travelling which seems to have put paid to McIlroy's union with Stoll is the fact he has been under considerable professional stress.
Some wives insist on coming with their husbands so they can keep an eye on them. Rory McIlroy of Team Europe and wife Erica Stoll pose for a photograph at the Spanish Steps
Back at Rory McIlroy's first golf club, Holywood in County Down, nobody seems to mind that – whether it's down to fate or something more earthly – he appears to have exchanged one golf circuit blonde for another
He played a significant role in the schism which split golf, when the Saudi-backed LIV tournament was set up as a rival to the traditional PGA tour in 2022 (the name LIV refers to the Roman numerals for 54, the number of holes played at LIV events).
McIlroy was the PGA's figurehead, and strongly backed them.
Then, before the US Open, he discovered that the warring sides had come to an agreement – and didn't even know that the announcement was coming.
'Why did I waste 12 months of my life to fight for something that was always going to come back together again?' he says in the second series of the Netflix documentary Full Swing, filmed last summer.
There was widespread sympathy for McIlroy on the circuit – and it's no surprise that some of it came from Amanda Balionis.
Did this sympathy blossom into love? Certainly there are signs that they started to become more closely aligned.
Back at Rory McIlroy's first golf club, Holywood in County Down, nobody seems to mind that – whether it's down to fate or something more earthly – he appears to have exchanged one golf circuit blonde for another.
A member said: 'People don't know the whole story. They only know a little bit. Nobody here would say anything bad about him. And to be honest, his game isn't suffering one bit.'
Additional reporting: Daniel Bates