A year ago, Tony Romo was one tournament away from possibly qualifying for the U.S Open, but it was a different story this time around.
The Cowboys quarterback shot an 81 (nine-over par) Monday morning at McKinney's Stonebridge Country Club at the local qualifying round of the U.S. Open. Not only were the conditions unruly with stiff winds and challenging pin placement, but Romo didn't bring his best as well. A triple-bogey on No. 15 moved him from 5 to 8, virtually ending all hopes of moving on to the regional round.
When Romo went into the clubhouse, only one other player posted a score of under-par, but there were several turned in that were lower than Romo's 81.
"It's just frustrating with the score, but I hit the ball solid," Romo told reporters after the round. "I haven't played that much lately anyways so I wasn't expecting too much. But it's fun to compete. It's fun to test your game
"The golf course is probably the toughest in the area but when you add the USGA with their greens and some of the pin placements, then add to that the wind, it was a monster today. It was as tough as I've seen it out here."
Last year, Romo not only advanced past the local round, but the sectional qualifying round, advancing him to the 36-hole regional round in Houston. While Romo was in the Top 10 after the first round, he struggled early in Round 2, and that was before the second weather delay occurred. Romo was forced to withdraw from the tournament and catch a return flight back to Dallas for an OTA practice the following day.
But it didn't sound like Romo was expecting that kind of run this year.
"You can kind of tell how you're playing leading up" Romo said. "I hadn't played much golf leading up to it, here and there sparingly, and it shows on days like this with as much win as we had and it's a tough golf course. But it was fun to compete and see where your game's at."
Then again, don't expect Romo to get too upset.
"This isn't football so I'm a lot more emotional when it comes to football games. This one, you pick out where you need to get better at and try that the next time."
