Tony Romo could have very well skipped out on his Sunday broadcasting gig at Vikings-Bears to play golf in Napa, Calif. on less than 48 hours notice without facing any consequences. It’s not entirely due to the fact that the former quarterback commands such respect that even his bosses at CBS bend to his every whim, but that seems to be close to reality—this year, at least.
Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported that Romo was given a sponsorship exception to participate in this tournament, knowing full well that there would be a chance that the ex-Cowboy would need to miss out on broadcasting duties if he played well enough.
Romo dreams of qualifying for the professional tour. Though he’s very good — he’s won the American Century Championship celebrity tournament in Lake Tahoe the past two years — it is unlikely he would make the cut in a PGA Tour event. He failed in his previous three attempts.
But if he does, what will CBS do? A CBS spokeswoman told The Post it has a contingency plan, but declined to name the analyst who would call the game with Jim Nantz.
As Marchand notes, the chances of Romo doing well enough to progress far into a PGA tournament are rather slim given how he stacks up against some of the best in the world. He was right in the end, but only to a certain extent. Romo played the round of his life on Thursday, putting together a two-under par 70 through his first 18 holes. At the time, he was tied for 20th, just five shots back from then-leader Adam Scott.
Because of this, CBS was prepping Boomer Esiason* to serve as Romo’s backup in Chicago on Sunday, according to Marchand. But as he’s been known to do throughout his career, Romo choked and fell all the way down to 113th in the tournament after a six-over par 78 in the second round, causing him to miss the cut by six. Sadly, this means he’ll have to take a private jet from Napa to Chicago so that he can actually go do his job on Sunday. You just can’t help but feel bad for the guy.