Tony Romo Withdraws From Mini-Tour Event After Shooting 81

Ex Dallas Cowboy QB and current lead NBC NFL analyst Tony Romo withdrew from a mini-tour event after carding an 81.

It’s hardly a hoped-for warmup for Romo as he readies for an unrestricted sponsor exemption into the PGA Tour’s Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship March 22-25.

GolfChannel.com’s Will Gray reports.

Romo teed it up this week on the North Texas PGA Players’ Tour, one of 87 players in a 36-hole event with a top prize of $4,400. The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current CBS NFL analyst played as an amateur but shot an opening-round 81 that included a quintuple-bogey 10 on the second hole and a triple bogey on the fifth hole.

Romo steadied the ship after his rough start, carding splits of 45-36, but withdrew after shooting 2-over 38 on the opening nine of his second round at Bridlewood Golf Club in the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound.

I give anyone credit for trying–even if the results are less than acceptable. Romo has a few weeks before teeing it up with seasoned Tour pros–and improving on those quintuple and triple bogeys. I’d also have to believe the Corales Puntacana course is probably more challenging than Bridlewood’s usually benign layout. Plus there’s the increased scrutiny as Tony’s celebrity status is the main reason for the sponsor’s invite.

But it wasn’t all terrible according to playing partner and two-time PGA Tour winner Paul Stankowski…

Paul Stankowski, who played with Tony Romo in this week's North Texas PGA event: "I think he has a pretty good game. He has a realistic shot of making the cut in the Dominican Republic. The ball makes the proper sound coming off the club."

Romo played 27 holes. Shot 81-38.

— Sean Martin (@PGATOURSMartin) February 28, 2018

It should make for an interesting week in late March.