Former NFL QB Tony Romo to make another run at PGA Tour qualifying

Tony Romo is giving the PGA Tour another late-game drive.

The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current lead CBS football analyst is in the field for next week’s PGA Tour Q-School pre-qualifying site at Sand Creek Station Golf Club in Newton, Kansas. It’s Romo’s third straight year playing in the pre-qualifier round of Q-School, which consists of a pre-qualifying stage followed by three stages where ultimately the top five finishers and ties are awarded PGA Tour cards. Those who make it to the later stages also receive various levels of Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas status.

Romo has advanced out of the pre-qualifier once before, shooting a two-over 218 at Lantana G.C. in Argyle, Texas over 54 holes to just squeak into the next stage on the number. He then played in the first stage and missed the cut after shooting 13 over while playing with Scottie Scheffler, then a recent graduate of the University of Texas.

Q-School has a very different look to it now, as the PGA Tour just changed the event to once again award PGA Tour cards. When Romo advanced through the pre-qualifier in 2018, the highest level of status he could attain was a Korn Ferry Tour card. That’s where Scheffler ended up playing that season.

Romo, who carries a +2.6 index out of Dallas National Golf Club, hasn’t posted any particularly eye-popping results this year. He finished a disappointing 38th out of 90 players at the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe — an event he’s won three times, most recently in 2022. His last tournament was the Utah Open where he finished tied for last among players to make the cut at four over after a final-round 80.

The 14-year NFL veteran has played in four PGA Tour events, missing the cut each time, most recently at the 2019 Safeway Open (now known as this week’s Procore Championship) when he shot 70-78. He also played in three Korn Ferry Tour events in 2020 and 2021, again missing all three cuts.

That’s not to say Romo isn’t a good golfer. He revealed to GOLF’s Subpar podcast in 2020 that he puts in a ridiculous amount of time trying to improve his game.

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“I would say, starting off the year if it’s not in the football season, which changes obviously when I have to travel and for games, ya know, but I’ll be out there for a good six to eight hours, once in a while,” he said then.

He’s also had some success at the amateur level, nearly making match play at the 2023 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship with partner (and UT star) Tommy Morrison. He’s become a regular at U.S. Open qualifying since retiring, but his most successful attempt came in 2010 when he advanced through the local stage, but had to withdraw from the final qualifier due to Cowboys OTAs.

This year’s pre-qualifier will be held Wednesday to Friday, meaning the event shouldn’t interfere with Romo’s day job, calling CBS football as Jim Nantz’s color analyst. The pre-qualifier is being held at a Sand Creek Station course which just hosted the U.S. Adaptive Open earlier this year.

The final stage of Q-School will be held December 12-15 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, at Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass and Sawgrass Country Club.