Ex-NFL star Romo makes PGA debut

SANTO DOMINGO: Former Dallas Cowboys star Tony Romo, now an NFL television analyst, makes his US PGA Tour debut Thursday at the Corales Puntacana Championship, the tour’s first Dominican Republic event.

US Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk and former US Ryder Cup captain Davis Love are among past 10 major winners in the field while the world’s top-ranked players compete in the World Golf Championships Match-Play tournament in Austin, Texas.

The par-72 Corales course on the nation’s eastern tip is the second-longest tour course of the season at 7,688 yards, 30 yards shorter than Torrey Pines. Six holes are along the Caribbean Sea, including the three-hole closing stretch nicknamed “The Devil’s Elbow.”

“It’s a good test of golf,” Romo said. “If it’s windy, the scores won’t be that low.”Romo, who reached the sectional round of US Open qualifying in 2010, made his fame in 14 NFL campaigns as quarterback of the Cowboys, throwing for 34,183 yards and 248 touchdowns and saying precision throwing an American football has helped his golfing precision.

“Golf obviously wasn’t my sport most of my life, but I’ve put a lot of time in preparing for this,” Romo said. “I’ll be prepared to play the best that I’m capable.”Romo, 37, is playing on a sponsor exemption after years as a celebrity regular at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.Dru Love, son of 21-time US PGA winner Davis Love, is a playing partner of Romo for the first two rounds.