AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIP

July 11, 2024

Tony Romo

Edgewood Tahoe

Quick Quotes

Q. Any competition within the competition amongst NFL players and alumni at this wonderful event?

TONY ROMO: I don't necessarily feel that. You're trying to win.

Q. Formal competition that you guys have, anything among the NFL guys?

TONY ROMO: I don't. They might. But I have not gotten wind of it or they don't want me to be a part of it.

Q. Barkley has talked about the basketball players in the past.

TONY ROMO: There's that unwritten rule, which basketball player is going to win.

Q. There's none of that you know of among the NFL guys. Any trash talk or bragging right claims?

TONY ROMO: I think some of the biggest ones are every year, Charles, who I saw last night -- and my family, you know, absolutely adores him, just his presence -- he just makes the environment so enjoyable for people. I think it's such a gift having people like that in the tournament or at an event or anywhere, really.

And I feel like he probably starts the trash talk also himself, which makes it more enjoyable. But I think one of my favorite things every year is if I can believe him when he say he's improved and hitting the ball better.

Q. They've got the bet again this year. The last two years it's been top 70. This year it's top 75.

TONY ROMO: It went back five. It was 70 for Barkley. Now moved it to 75 because he hasn't gotten close. Now we need to look into that one. I thought it was a sucker bet, but I didn't know it was five back.

Q. And there's also 91 players this year. Might be a little larger field. Have to be thinking about that. Have you tried your luck on that bet in the past?

TONY ROMO: On Barkley, yes, he lost me money last year -- two years ago or last year. I'm not falling for that trap again. I have to visually see it.

Q. He slimmed down quite a bit.

TONY ROMO: He has. He looks good. He's been working hard at it.

Q. You're a three-time winner of this event, 2018, 2019, 2022, took a year off. What are you thinking this year? You're ready?

TONY ROMO: I think you're always coming here to be in contention, have a chance on Sunday.

I actually went through a rough patch last year. I just got in some bad habits, sequencing errors, I call it now. So I really couldn't find my way out of the fog.

But all it takes is that thing, and when it clicks, things start to connect dots very quickly and from there we started to really push the envelope.

This year I'm showing signs of my best iron play probably since a long time, when I ran away with it in '19. That's probably the last time, that summer stretch where I hit irons the way I do now.

Q. Down in Dallas, did you struggle down there?

TONY ROMO: I just went through a swing phase of like you're trying to perfect this craft, and the deeper you get into it, the understanding is to really know yourself and perfect how you think. And it is a game of misses, but ultimately you've still got to hit the ball solid where you're aiming more often than not.

I just had started to lose distance. Contact had become a little unclean, which is unconventional for me. Once I connected the way to think, just perceive how it should be swung, that changed a lot. And from there the teachings of my coaches came back. It's been good this last month. Before then, though, yeah, I was always grinding to shoot 74, but now we'll be fine. We'll be under that.

Q. Mardy is still your number one guy, you're thinking of, when it comes to this event?

TONY ROMO: Yeah, I think anybody who knows Mardy knows how talented he is. I always tell Mardy, if he didn't take the tennis route, he would have been probably on TOUR.

And I think he's always going to be in the mix. I think the big thing is me and him have the horsepower to where at some point you can take the five, six holes and make a move.

Q. Speaking of NFL, last year Aaron Rodgers was the top finisher among NFL players.

TONY ROMO: That's good motivation.

Q. So as far as taking your crown back in that regard --

TONY ROMO: I like our chances coming in this year than last year. You're always saying you're okay, but last year I was not in a position to really be at my best. You hope to find it that week. But usually you are what you come in as. This year we'll be in the mix.

Q. Next week we have the British Open. Any thoughts on the winner there?

TONY ROMO: Tony Morrison, 6'10" kid from Texas, qualified, won the European Am, one of them over there. And he's playing good golf. But I hope he does well. But it's at Royal Troon, right?

Q. I think it's Troon.

TONY ROMO: What do we know about the course? It's going to be windy. High level. Good analysis. Hard to beat Scheffler right now.

Q. Liking Scheffler?

TONY ROMO: If your life was on the line, who are you going with? Although, I do believe Jordan Spieth will be in the mix this week.

Q. People are saying that. People are asking why.

TONY ROMO: His vision. I think he's improving, he's improving, he's improving, and I think when you give him multiple shots, that's a gift in some ways for him where it's like, get rid of trees, get rid of things and let him fade it, draw, hit it low, make it run out. He sees things different than other players. I think he'll be able to use his natural gifts, spatial awareness. That might open him up.