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Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is an exceptional golfer.
He’s so good that Tiger Woods once named him among the two best celebrity golfers he’s played with, tied with John Smoltz.
Romo’s golf handicap has been reported as +3.3, an incredibly high standard of golf. So he could be forgiven for thinking he could go toe-to-toe with professionals on the PGA Tour.
So he joined the 132-man field in the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship, but received a tough reality check.
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Photo by Stan Badz/PGA TOUR
How Tony Romo played in a PGA Tour event
Romo received a sponsor exemption to play at the event and, unfortunately, finished dead last in the field.
He opened with a 77 in his first round. At 15-over, he was six shots worse than the next player on the leaderboard and 28 strokes behind leader Brice Garnett.
His second round opened with a string of bogeys and a double on the 18th hole. Romo missed the cut by a sizeable margin, and admitted it was a bit of a reality check.
Romo said after the tournament, “I kind of have an idea of where I really need to put my time in as far as to get better and scoring. I’m hitting the ball fine, you just have to score.
“I lipped out three or four putts early, some short putts that kind of got me almost a little bit pressing. I just didn’t hit the irons very good today. The back nine’s 4,000-some yards, so when you’re not hitting those, well you’re going to have tough shots.
He continued, “Short-sided a few times, made too many mistakes. So a lot of stuff to learn from, and in a good way. I’ll be able to kind of assess why I didn’t play as well as I wanted to and then you go attack it. In a month from now I think we’ll see things a little better.”
Romo’s biggest takeaway was the importance of the short game, especially putting.
“The putting’s a big thing. I could see that you can tell that the speed control, a lot of little things. We hit the ball fine. We’re going to be fine with contact, I don’t feel out of place with that. I just feel like a lot of little stuff. I’ll tug an iron on a hole that you really can’t because you’re going to be downwind short-sided and you’re making a double.”
How John Smoltz qualified for the US Senior Open
While Romo didn’t get on brilliantly on the PGA Tour, the man he was compared to by Woods, Smoltz, is enjoying a hugely successful golfing career after retiring from the MLB.
In June 2018, Smoltz achieved a lifelong dream by qualifying for the U.S. Senior Open. Competing at the Planterra Ridge Golf Club, Smoltz faced a grueling 13-hour day in order to qualify.
He shot a three-under 69 to finish a three-man playoff, then locked into the mentality that helped him win the World Series. He survived three holes to secure his spot in the senior major championship field. He called the achievement better than his first MLB win.
Smoltz also attempted to qualify for the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach, but wasn’t successful on that occasion. He carded a six-over 76, a good score, but a long way from the second qualifying round.
But by making the major as a senior, he cemented his place among the best celebrity golfers.
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