Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is an accomplished golfer. In the past, he's just missed qualifying for the U.S. Open, shot 84 at Torrey Pines the week before the 2008 Open, and played with Tiger Woods in the AT&T National Pro-Am two weeks ago. He also logged a third-place finish at last year's Lake Tahoe Celebrity Golf Championship So it's not all that surprising that he would be leading the event after one round this time around. Romo has 27 points in the modified Stableford format (thanks to seven birdies, three of which game on the first four holes), two points ahead of former Major League pitcher and mustache enthusiast Rick Rhoden, a seven-time winner at Tahoe.
"Anytime you can get off to a good start it makes it easier," Romo told the AP. "It's all about consistency in this game. It's no different than any other sport." Romo had no comment on his recent split with Jessica Simpson although he was extremely gracious about it: "I'm not going to talk about my personal life, but I appreciate you asking."
In less surprising news: Charles Barkley is still awful. Amazingly, though, he's not the worst player in the field. That honor goes mixed martial arts fighter Chuck Liddell, making his first appearance at Tahoe. Sir Chuck, who played with Ray Romano Friday, starts the weekend in next-to-last place after carding a minus-30 points.
"I played horrible," Barkley said. "I just choked like a dog." Video evidence confirms as much. And worse: Chuck's swing still includes the hitch Hank Haney spent months trying to fix.
But as I mentioned yesterday, Barkley's is unfailingly upbeat about his golfing fate, and, according to the AP, before his round, the Tahoe mayor thanked him for "contributing $190,000 the past two years to a fund for victims of a wildfire that burned more than 250 homes at Lake Tahoe in 2007."
