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AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 14, 2019Tony RomoStateline, Nevada THE MODERATOR: We have our champion, Mr. Tony Romo, in the media room. Come on in. All right, Tony. Three days in a row here in the media room. You've got to love that. Congratulations on a back to back victory. Way to go. TONY ROMO: I appreciate. It's an honor. Obviously feels special to be able to do that. A little less anticlimactic, but that's kind of what I was hoping for today when the day started. It was a good day. THE MODERATOR: It had to be a little tough when the wind started coming up, right when you guys were making the turn, I think it was. TONY ROMO: In some ways, I knew it was going to be tough for guys to get a lot of birdies on that back nine. You're almost like -- I feel like the birdie on 9 and the birdie on 11 were the real -- I knew pretty much we had it locked up from that point. So from there, you enjoy the day and try not to do anything silly and just protect -- probably a little too much coming in. It was a great day. Got off to a great start. Played well all week, good enough to give myself a chance to enjoy the back nine walk, I guess. THE MODERATOR: You have become now the fourth person here in 30 years to repeat. I believe Rick Rhoden, Dan Quinn, obviously Mark Mulder were the previous. So congratulations on that. TONY ROMO: I appreciate that. It's an honor to be in that club. As you know, we love this golf tournament. It's a special week for me and my family. THE MODERATOR: Is it too early to think three-peat or what? Q. Hat trick. TONY ROMO: It's too early. THE MODERATOR: Enjoy the day. Let's open it up to the media. Q. Besides a few hiccups early on day one, you were able to cruise out here the next three days. How were you able to kind of keep your composure throughout this tournament? TONY ROMO: That's a good question. I think a lot of it just stems from the confidence, the variables of the golf swing. I know I keep going back to this, but the misses are just different. They're just -- there's an idea of where they could go, and I've eliminated some versions of other ones, and that's given me a lot of confidence to be freed up and go. I'm swinging at -- some of the best golf I've played here in the last couple of weeks. I think I made a pretty significant move, find a few weeks back that has held up for 2 1/2, 3 weeks, and it just gave me confidence coming in. It will give me confidence hopefully going forward. If you can control your ball, you have a chance out here to score. Q. You looked so comfortable from the tee box all the way to the green for most of this tournament. In your mind, was there any certain shots that you just really missed, or were you able to just be controlled and paced throughout this whole tournament? TONY ROMO: No, I mean, I missed shots this week for sure, but if you miss shots, you try and minimize the damage. I'm still upset that I had a double bogey each day, I feel like. Puts you behind the eight ball. It's tough because just tough to hit -- you miss one shot out here around the green, you could be in a very difficult position. You could hit a great chip and still have 8 feet, 6 feet, and those are not gimmes, by any means. I think -- you know, you just keep playing because you know you're striking it the way you kind of want to, the way you're visualizing it. I think that's what makes golf fun is when you can actually have weeks like that and that feeling's there, and you can kind of go with it. Q. Winning this tournament this time, is there any difference between last year's and this year's? TONY ROMO: Last year was a lot more -- today felt like the back nine, we were just kind of having fun. So it almost felt like we're kind of walking in -- because I think the tournament had ended a little bit by that point. Last year it was much more every shot mattered, but that's the goal. I think you want to walk up the last nine and just enjoy it and not really have to spend eight minutes studying this chip or putt or this shot. You know, we're going to be okay. I think that's why you try and practice so much so you can come out and enjoy a day like today and try and end the tournament early. I came out and played really, really well early in the round today. I was 3 under through the first four, and I missed a four-foot birdie putt on 1. So it was pretty systematic. Q. Tony, you started playing here at Edgewood in 2007. You played for six years until 2012. Then I guess it was football injuries that precluded the golfing -- I almost says skiing. Precluded the golfing, and you came back in 2017 with your worst finish ever, sorry to remind you, of a plus 47. You had been in second place two of those previous times when you played those six years in a row. What was the difference between that 47 and the 71 last year? Because the 47 was in '17, and obviously you won last year with a 71. TONY ROMO: Well, I think I just started -- I want to say we're a year and a half -- so really at the end of '17 is when I started to -- I don't want to say take it serious, but let's hire a coach. Let's actually go out and make it systematic from daily routine and not just every day just randomly go by feel, I guess you could say, because that's kind of just how you play. I'm feeling good today. Let's go learn the game. Let's actually go dig deeper and learn what actually the nuance to the game are. It's not just feels, even though that's basically how I've always played. Then we'll start to -- sometimes you'll get worse before you get better, but like I told you guys this week, I'll sacrifice short term for the long-term game simply based on trial error. I'll lose plenty of things here so that way there's this big leap that happens later. And I think that in golf that's what kind of happens, and I think from last year to the year before was one. I think from last year to this year was another one. I think each of those years I was a different player than the previous time you saw me. I hope next year it will be the same thing here. We'll see. Q. When you decided to make the move to learn the game, did you have any specific goals in mind or just long-term goals to get better? TONY ROMO: Yeah, it's just -- I just want to improve as much as you're capable of. Some people are blessed with different abilities and different skill sets, but I still have speed. I still have -- you know, you can study it in golf, the speed that you can swing a golf club and how fast the ball speed. I mean, it kind of tells you how far you're capable of hitting it. Things like that were neat to see that I was still able to put that at a pretty high level. Then from there, you just, you study it not really knowing where the end game is. It's still the same thing now. I don't know. It could be anywhere. It's a wide range, right? But I do know that I'm improving, and I know how in football it looked silly at one time too, and you hope to just keep -- you just have to keep trying to figure it out. It's a puzzle. And you keep figuring yourself out, figuring the game out, and keep improving, and you'll have more shots for more conditions. I'm already thinking about two shots on the back nine today that I'm going to have to work on because they were difficult with a certain wind direction, where the pin was, the slope, things of that nature. So, anyway, it's a great game. Q. You've always played as an amateur. Have you ever thought of playing so that on the rankings so that you would get money? And thank you for that money donated to the charities. TONY ROMO: No, that's an easy decision. Obviously, as an amateur, you can't take money. It makes it easier for me to stay and never actually turn pro. It's a great cause that they do. I haven't really thought -- I've never been good enough to turn pro. It would be silly. I know what it's like to go against some of the top players much less the mini tour guys. This last month has really taken a good turn for me in the golf game. Q. I mean pro like these other guys like 11 under par, and you've got to be getting 125. TONY ROMO: Yeah. I just -- it hasn't crossed my mind yet. I just feel we're in a good spot. I like the tournament golf. I like playing in some other stuff. Q. If you turned PGA pro, we'd miss you here. TONY ROMO: They'd miss me there too. THE MODERATOR: Tony, you mentioned the end game and whatnot. Obviously in the last year, you played on a number of PGA Tour events with sponsor's exemptions. Are you looking to do that in the coming months and year? TONY ROMO: Yeah, I'll play in one more this year. I'll let them announce that. But I'll be excited about that because my game is a little different than the previous two, so that will be exciting for me to go out and see at that point where we're at. Like I said, every time you play in a tournament, including this one, you learn a lot about your game. You learn how to practice when you go home, and you learn what you need to work on. Q. I think your margin of victory -- and I'm still checking it -- I think your margin of victory today was the second highest in the stable for history. Before, it was 11. You got it by 10 today. So nice playing there. TONY ROMO: You should have told me on 18, gosh. THE MODERATOR: And also for the week, record crowds again this week. The tournament is just announcing the new number at 60,530 for the week. TONY ROMO: Wow. Q. Was it any louder this year than it has been in the past? TONY ROMO: It was pretty loud this year, you could tell. It was early in the week too. It was a lot of fans early in the week that really showed up that, I think I found -- you used to be able to have a little bit of time on Tuesday. That's gone. Wednesday could get a little bit midday, but you're dead in the morning on Wednesday and Thursday. Now, it's 7:00 a.m. Fans were great. It was a great week with a lot of great people. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions? We do have one. Hang on. Q. Tony, I know you're used to coming home -- well, used to come home with the Cowboys, big party. Hey, is there going to be a big party for you after this? TONY ROMO: That's a good question. You know, we're going to fly back here probably in an hour, and I think we'll have some fun on the plane ride home. We'll have some fun. It will probably be late tonight, but I'll get a chance to see my boys, kids who I haven't seen. They weren't here this week, so it was a long week without them, but they were watching. So I think I'll enjoy that tomorrow with them. I think I've earned a day off of golf. Q. Tony, you mentioned the back nine and that being -- having the tournament basically wrapped up at that point, but what was the mindset coming into today as you step onto that 1st tee box? TONY ROMO: When I stepped on, it was to set the scoring record for the golf tournament. As silly as it sounds, I think someone told me it was 84 -- is that right, Phil? Is 84 the all time high? So we were at 51, and I was like, okay, that was really -- instead of protecting -- I was in that position before. Instead of protecting, you want to be chasing something. You're intelligent. You're not just blatantly doing it. It's still the same mapped out plan heading in with some adjustments with wind today. But I came right out 1st hole, hit a little cutoff off the tee box with a 4 iron, and the pin was back left, so then I drew the second shot. So, boom, both shots, little bleeder with the 4 iron, then a two-yard draw into the flag to 4 feet. I missed the putt. I was disappointed. But I hit two correct shots right out of the gate. And then the next hole I hit was one of the furthest drives I hit this week, but I hit it right up near the green. I was 10 yards off, let's say, and I chipped it to 6, 7 feet, and I made the putt. That was a good chip there. Next hole, I hit driver right where I wanted to on 3, hit it hard, and then I hit rescue, which is a tough place to get up there on that back left side, and I fit it right in between there. So I came out and just boom, boom, boom, chipped that one to about a foot and made birdie on the par-5 3. Same thing, 4, right down the middle, 7 iron to about 15 feet, and that was probably the first time I wasn't aggressive. I left that probably six inches to a foot short, but I was 3 under through four then. And the tournament really at that point, it would have taken something really special, I felt like, and I was hitting it well enough to where it was going to be difficult to make a lot of double bogeys, you felt, or something. Something might happen, but it's not going to be many holes when you have command on it. And then the birdie on 9, I think, for me mentally, and then we just kind of had fun. Q. Tony, have you been using a sports psychologist when it comes to your golf? You seem really Zen? TONY ROMO: I am really Zen. (Laughter). But, no, I'm not using a sports psychologist. My wife is my sports psychologist. Q. How's your back now that you've won? TONY ROMO: Oh, it's much better right now. (Laughter). That's a great question. I think we did a good job managing it this week and just I told Nick, our caddie, earlier in the week, I said, it would have been rough if we would have had to find the swing this week. I've been here plenty of times, oh, God, we've got to spent eight hours on the range to find how to hit this. What are we going to do on this tee shot? How are we going to do this? So it was less stress on my back when you feel like you can hit it okay. THE MODERATOR: Tony, congratulations on another championship. TONY ROMO: Thank you so much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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