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AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIP

July 12, 2019

Tony Romo

Stateline, Nevada

Q. 26 points. Way to follow up a championship round last year and jumping in the lead right now. You're sending a message to the field.
TONY ROMO: Well, I think you're just -- day one, you're just trying to play good golf. And the idea is to get consistent enough where you can just, you're going to put together holes, a nine-hole, six-hole stretch where you can really turn it around.

I had a rough start, actually, today. I didn't putt well early. And the greens are very difficult. And I think that's why you won't see a lot of low scores. It was as tough as I had seen just trying to make putts out there. Then we got it going.

Q. Take us through your round. We know you had the superstar triumvirate today with you and Steph and JT. How was that with the crowds and all the activity out there?
TONY ROMO: It was really entertaining, honestly. It was fun, because Steph and JT are great guys. And then they're also good golfers. So it makes it kind of just a unique experience, but the fans were so -- they're just happy and rooting you on that it made it really fun.

I think whenever you made a putt or hit a good shot, you felt the energy of the crowd. And just kind of gets you -- you just keep plugging away, keep going, and you hear some big roars at different times, make it really exciting.

Q. Take us through your round, at 26, that's a great start.
TONY ROMO: Yeah, I think I had two points after five holes. So from that point on I got pretty hot. And I actually hit it pretty good early. I just putted -- I missed some little putts for birdie, and then just the pace of the greens a couple times.

But I was hitting it well. It's kind of like you know it's just a matter of time, if you can keep hitting balls inside of 10 feet. So I went through a stretch where, after the fifth hole I think I really controlled my ball. The pin was on the right, we were fading it in. If it's on the left, we tried to draw it in.

It was pretty dialed from that manner, drove it pretty well. And then the putts started to drop. When they did, I made, I think, five birdies on the back nine. Shot 31 on the back and I didn't birdie 18. So kind of left some out there today. So hopefully we can go a little lower tomorrow.

Q. You've got the field chasing you. You've got a couple guys that are usually at the top of the leaderboard or near it like Mulder struggled a little bit today, below 20 points. You've got a pretty good lead on them.
TONY ROMO: Yeah, but it's so early in the tournament. I mean, I know where I was last year I was right in that section, too. It can flip in a nine-hole stretch.

The idea is just keep giving yourself looks. And I don't think anyone's going to make everything. It's just even the best putters, it's really difficult, because you can hit a good putt but they're so subtle they can -- half these six-, seven-, eight-footers could fall right or left depending on the poa annua. So it makes it a little more difficult to read, and also a little scarier for you to hit it two, three feet by. And really for me I just got a little more aggressive after that start.

Q. With your golf experience in the last 12 months, and we've highlighted it in this room about how many tournaments you've played in on the Tour and whatnot, how confident are you right now?
TONY ROMO: Well, I think it's the same way, like after the start today, you don't want to start off that way. I had two par-5s in the first five holes. And you have two points. I mean, it's a nightmare start in some ways.

But you just know enough that golf, it's so long. Even the course over 18 holes, 36, 54, I mean if you're playing well, it's just -- it's going to come back. You just have to stay emotionally centered and just keep yourself mentally sharp and just hit the shot. If it misses, it misses, but you know what you've been working on and you go do it. And it just hopefully you get on a run.

Q. You said it yourself that these greens were kind of fast-paced and unreadable. Did that kind of change your positioning or your perspective once you got to the green, 10 to 15 feet away?
TONY ROMO: Well, what I started doing after the initial start was I started to almost -- I played less break and I started to hit them firmer. And it allowed me to at least keep it on -- because when you're on poa annua that's fast and stuff, and you have Charles Barkley walking all over it, it makes it a little more difficult to be perfect every time. But I just gave it more pace and then from there it allowed me -- I was putting well. I just needed to trust it a little bit more. I was a little too tentative early. And it was just really a change in philosophy and that's the difference, really.

Q. Having those two par-5s early, did that let you kind of get into your groove, or did you think you really had to play aggressively toward the back nine?
TONY ROMO: I didn't do either of those, really. Just you're playing golf and you're hitting the shot that's right in front of you. I hit the ball really well off the tee and my iron play has been pretty strong. As you go up, you're trying to make birdie on every hole. And when you all of a sudden miss a shot little bit, you pulled it two yards, now you have a tough slope, now the pace matters.

But ultimately, I had a lot of looks out there today. And we made some of them. And it's just golf, you go through different ebbs and flows within a round.

Q. Golf seems to be more like a mental game, like you're by yourself with all the crowds, do you feel certain kind of pressure? You said like you like the cheers and stuff, but wouldn't it be more difficult playing this course?
TONY ROMO: No, I mean, I don't really think it makes a huge difference, like, to me, on 17, we're playing music while we're hitting the golf shot. It's just part of playing.

I mean, you're focused on what you're trying to do. That stuff, to me, it doesn't really matter, I guess you could say. It's fun when people are excited and they're rooting for you. That makes you just feel good that people want to root for you. But the mental side of it is important -- it was a lot harder back in the day to say, okay, you have a rough start and now you just know eventually you're going to get it back. Now it's like, you hit enough good shots, they're going to get close enough -- I started thinking like we'll have to hit it to a foot to make birdie because six feet is just going to be a par. But you just kind of keep plugging along and then eventually you'll have enough looks that some will go in. That's the mental side of it, though, that you talk about. You've got to trust that.

Q. This is your best first day since 2009. You finished with a 71. Second to Rick Rhoden's 74. Last year, day one, you had 18. I think you were talking about it earlier. The back nine you putted really well. Is that the big difference in the eight points from 18 to 26 this year?
TONY ROMO: No, the golf swing, probably. I think last year I didn't get off to a good start. But I had to -- that was a grind last year, as far as I didn't feel like I was hitting it that good. I just tried to play away from things and hopefully you can make some scoring on some par-5 holes. It's a little different. Now like you're trying to birdie every hole. And you can because you can hit the ball out here, the ball can travel a long way.

So there's not very many holes. When you map out your tournament round, you're mapping out your birdie holes and par holes and mentally that allows you to be freed up off a tee box. If you play off a No. 1, you know it's a par hole, then you wouldn't risk that bunker on the left or the water straightaway, trying to fade something 20 yards around it to get the extra 15, 20 yards off the tee.

You hit a 4-iron right off the bunker, cut it short, where you cut it a little bit, you're in the fairway, it's fine. Par hole, hit a 8-, 9-iron in then. If you have 20 feet, great, you might run one in.

But you eliminate the chance of ever doing something on a difficult hole. You have a birdie hole. Now we attack. You kind of know that before you ever step on the course. That's helped a lot. That's different this year probably than last.

Q. After winning last year, do you feel more confident today than you did day one last year?
TONY ROMO: Last year was nice because without playing great in that first round, I just -- you plugged away and you didn't feel like you had some of your best stuff. But also it's just so long, the tournament. There's so many -- people can come back tomorrow and someone can go really low and you're not leading all of a sudden anymore.

And you just know how fast it can shift. So you just put your head down and keep going to play. And usually, if you're playing good golf, it will eventually get back to that. If you're not, usually it will get back to that, too. I've had plenty of those days, I can promise you that.

Q. You mentioned you enjoyed playing with JT and Steph, but it's a little bit of a zoo atmosphere out there. Obviously you played well. But do you feel like you might play better when you're with the John Smoltzes and the Mark Mulders and the focus is really, really golf?
TONY ROMO: Yeah, but I think -- I think you want to be mentally right where you need to be right when you get ready to hit your shot, but you also can't be that the entire round. So being around some players that I've been around, that was a big question, it was like you've got to be locked in all day. What they did was they're locked in and nothing else matters. Then all of a sudden they hit a shot, How was your week going? Then they start to get up to their ball now, they've got to check the wind, the lie, the pin. Just to the front, to the back to cover the bunker, all these things. And then all of a sudden they don't -- there's nothing else you're thinking about except for that.

To me, it's a fun atmosphere; it's great. But you're locked in. When I step over a shot, like when I pull that club, the other stuff is going on, but that's not even a part of your psyche. It's literally just white noise. So I think that's -- it doesn't really change, I guess you could say, for me the way it feels whether you're either one.

When I step over a shot, it's as important on Tuesday on the range as it is the Friday in the golf tournament with screaming fans or not or not, it feels very similar. I think that's the goal.

Q. Did you glance at the leaderboard when you came in and what names stood out, oh, these are the guys that I've got to pay attention to?
TONY ROMO: You just never know about who, because like last year Joe Pavelski, like, players are improving. There's a lot of good golfers in the field that play different sports now. I think it's deeper than it's ever been. And a name that you wouldn't have thought before, they could be playing great golf, you just don't know about it yet. But their swing, they feel like it's tighter, easier, they're more comfortable. Someone's putting better. It could be anybody that's up there. To play a good round today is a really good score.

Q. Obviously you're going to be the story of the day, but maybe 1A is Charles Barkley. 14 people are behind him at this moment.
TONY ROMO: What? That's going to be the story.

Q. Charles shot 94 today. Best round he's shot in 15 years. Minus 12. Are your knees trembling?
TONY ROMO: Is that true? Did he actually play all 18? (Laughter).

Q. Parred 11 and birdied the second hole.
TONY ROMO: Did he hit somebody and they threw it in? That's awesome. He said he was hitting it better. Hadn't been hitting it good off the tee but he said everything else was going good. Actually, I've heard that from him before. This is actually true.

Q. He said last year "Barkley for birdie" is not something that you normally hear.
TONY ROMO: That's pretty good. "Barkley for birdie." That's a first.

Q. Being a quarterback, did that help you to block out all these distractions once you get over the ball?
TONY ROMO: Probably, but playing -- I mean, you just -- I feel like you kind of -- at least for me -- it's like you want to win. You want to compete. You want to hit your best shot. You want to throw the best pass. I mean you want to do everything right. So the only way to do those things is to think about the things that matter.

And so the things that matter are right here in this little bubble, like us, right here, as if you're in your own phone booth. The rest of the stuff is going on, but if your mind is thinking about that, you're already losing some of that, we talk about, focus to hit your best shot.

To me, it's maybe it's inherent. Maybe it's because you played. Maybe because you played in front of crowds before. But when I wasn't hitting the ball very well, it would have been an easy excuse. But I knew better; it was really that I was just pretty bad.

Q. Jack Wagner was in here a little earlier. He's doing well. How embarrassing would it be to be beaten by a nonathlete?
TONY ROMO: Very. I'm kidding. Jack is fantastic. And Jack's always going to be around the lead. Every two, three years he's going to have a chance to win, I feel like. He's a great player. I've played with Jack a number of times. He's obviously a great guy. But he's got real game. So what did he finish at today?

Q. 21.
TONY ROMO: He's right in the mix. Jack will be there all the way through the end, I think. He's a good golfer.

Q. He turns 60 this year.
TONY ROMO: Wow. Is he playing the senior tees? I'm kidding. I should be playing the senior tees. (Laughter).

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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