So here’s a surprise: Tony Romo, former NFL quarterback and current NFL announcer, is playing some honest-to-goodness legitimately good golf. At the Safeway Open in Napa, Calif., where he’s playing on a sponsor’s exemption, Romo finished his first round at -2, tied for 20th and five strokes back of clubhouse leader Adam Scott.
Romo birdied the first hole of his day, the 10th, and carded another birdie against a bogey to make the turn at -1. He seemed to be settling back to earth with two successive bogeys on his second nine, but rebounded for three birdies on the final five holes to finish in red numbers.
It’s still early yet, but Romo carded a better opening round than notables like Hideki Matsuyama, Charley Hoffman and Charles Howell III, not to mention John Daly.
Plenty of other notable athletes have tried their hand at golf, and few have had success. John Smoltz and Jerry Rice have struggled, and Steph Curry has played well only in limited bursts.
If Romo can manage to make the cut, he’ll miss his projected Sunday announcing slot for CBS Sports, and unfortunately he won’t be able to pretend that he’s sick.
Romo’s slated to go out at 4:25 ET Friday afternoon in the second-to-last grouping. By then, he’ll have a good idea of what he needs to do to make the cut ... and continue an interesting little story.
____
Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.
