Tony Romo and CBS parted ways on Friday, marking a shocking end to the relationship between network and broadcaster. It also came mid-round as Romo takes the next step in achieving his pro golf dreams.
CBS, which has been Romo’s employer for the past nine years, said in a statement that the two sides had “mutually agreed to part ways” following Romo’s arrest in Wisconsin this summer for charges of operating while intoxicated.
“We thank Tony for his contributions over the past nine years and wish him the best moving forward,” CBS stated in the release. The network has put J.J. Watt into Romo’s chair alongside Jim Nantz on the broadcast’s No. 1 team; he’ll remain there going forward.
A statement from Romo came after.
“I’m going to use this time to take a break, something I’ve never done before, and focus on my health and my family before moving on to my next opportunity,” the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback said. “I am grateful for my time with CBS Sports and for the continued support of my family and friends, as well as the NFL community and fans.”
For our purposes at GOLF, the added layer to the announcement was the timing. The Romo-CBS split came at noon E.T. on Friday, about two hours after Romo had teed off in the third and final round of Q-school at the Club at Forest Ridge in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
(That leaderboard is here.)
Romo went off the back nine at 8:55 a.m. local time; he began the day T49 after shooting 76-75 in his first two rounds. The announcement came shortly after he’d birdied the par-4 15th. He added a birdie at No. 18 to turn in 1-over 37 and stay inside the top 50. He’ll need to move up a few spots on his final nine to advance.
How does Q-school work? Thirty-seven players from the 75-player field will advance to the next round, known as First Stage. From there, players advance to Second Stage and ultimately Final Stage, where the top five finishers earn PGA Tour cards for the 2027 season, while the next 40 finishers will earn full KFT cards and all other Final Stage competitors will earn PGA Tour Americas status plus partial status on the KFT.
Romo has made several attempts at qualifying via Q-school since his 2017 retirement from the NFL. In 2018 he advanced through pre-qualifying, though he failed to make it through the next stage.
Romo is well known on the Dallas-area golf circuit; he plays plenty of golf at home with Tour pros including Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth. (He’s beaten Spieth in a round at home straight up, though never Scheffler.)
He played in four PGA Tour events plus three Korn Ferry Tour events from 2018-2021, though he never made a cut. He has also been a fixture at the American Century Championship, where he won in 2018, 2019 and 2022, though he has remained an amateur throughout.
Romo’s July arrest came after the final round of the Wisconsin Amateur, where he made the cut but finished T73, earning $60 in credit.
Milwaukee-area police said Romo “performed poorly” on field sobriety tests; he subsequently pled no contest to a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Romo penned a statement for social media last month in response to the charges.
Q-school is his first public appearance since.
The post Tony Romo’s CBS split announced in middle of Q-school round appeared first on Golf.
