Reavie hits trifecta with three holed-out eagles

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – This week, it’s the amateur portion of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Next month, it’s a sponsor exemption, making him one of the 132 competitors at the first-year PGA TOUR event, the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. And then? Difficult to say right now. At age 37, Tony Romo is a retired NFL quarterback, just finished his first year as lead analyst on CBS and is arguably the most accomplished golfer as any amateur in the field this week at Pebble Beach. More important, for the first time in his life, he has the time, the health and the desire to make golf a daily part of his life. So maybe he gets more invites into TOUR events. Maybe he sees progress. Maybe the competitive juices flow just like they did when he quarterbacked the Dallas Cowboys. And maybe one day, he chases membership onto a professional tour. Consider this: Romo has 13 years to fine-tune his game for the PGA TOUR Champions. He could follow the same path as another former NFL quarterback, John Brodie, who retired from the NFL at age 35 and eventually became a Champions member once he turned 50, even winning one event. When asked if Romo might have pro golf aspirations, his good friend and practice partner Jordan Spieth said he could see it happening. “He loves golf so much,â€� Spieth said. “He’s going to practice it all the time. That’s all he’s been doing. Yeah, I think that’s not out of the realm at all.â€� Romo, of course, is not about to disclose such lofty intentions. He’s just grateful for the opportunity to play next month’s event in the Dominican Republic. The news of the sponsor exemption was made public on Wednesday, so let’s just digest that for now. Even so, he wasn’t dismissing the idea. “Well, you got to go play,â€� Romo said. “You never know how good you are until you go play and perform. Ultimately, obviously the odds going against these guys are not great. I think we all know that. “But I think that’s what makes it really fun and enjoyable. I also think that the challenge that’s presented is what a competitor really wants. I think that’s what you always want to be around or be a part of. I know it’s about your own game and it’s about improving, that’s all you’re trying to do is consistently improve and get better. But you can learn a lot being around these guys and competing against them and I think that does make you better.â€� Romo has chased golf opportunities before. He’s attempted to qualify for the U.S. Open three times, advancing to the sectional stage of qualifying in 2010. He’s made a few appearances in the AT&T Pebble Beach as an amateur, and last year he played in the Western Amateur. But there are significant differences between those attempts and the present (and future) ones. As the Cowboys quarterback, Romo’s window of playing a significant amount of golf was basically reduced to five months a year. And of course, late in his career, he battled lower back injuries, undergoing two surgeries. A compression fracture to the L1 vertebra prior to the 2016 season kept him sidelined for most of the season. He was supplanted as the starter, giving way to Dak Prescott, and eventually opted to retire in order to join Jim Nantz in the CBS broadcast booth for the 2017 season. With a year of good health and a job that allows him plenty of time on the course, Romo finally has been able to focus his attention on golf for an extended period. “I started off very rusty last spring and summer and then I started to see some good signs here over the last month or two that I feel good about with the game,â€� Romo said. “Hopefully it will show.â€� At Pebble Beach, he will partner Will Zalatoris in the team competition. Romo carries an +0.3 handicap and is one of just three amateurs with a 0 handicap (the others are investment banker Kevin Baldwin and No Doubt drummer Adrian Young). Evidently, Romo’s goals are lofty this week – at least according to Spieth. “He wants to beat the pros that are in his group,â€� Spieth said, referring to Zalatoris and Hunter Mahan. “That’s kind of his goal. He thinks he can win this golf tournament if he played it with us.â€� Romo smiled upon hearing the comments: “Jordan just set me up for failure a little bit.â€� So how will Romo define success at Corales Puntacana? Just like his long-range future, it’s tough to say. “I really don’t know, to be honest with you,â€� he replied. “I’ve never played golf for a year straight. I don’t know what constitutes (success). More than anything, I’m not putting any expectations as far as what’s going to make a successful week. “You play and compete in tournaments to know what to practice. The tournament will show me a lot.â€� However it turns out for Romo – not only in the Dominican Republic but also this week at Pebble Beach — it should be fun to watch. Spieth often plays with Romo when the two are back home in Dallas. The 11-time TOUR winner is quite impressed with the former quarterback of his favorite NFL team. “His short game is fantastic,â€� Spieth said. “He’s walking in putts from 15 feet at home. I mean, walking them in almost every hole. It’s really impressive. We’ll see if he walks them in out here. It’s harder to walk them in on poa annua. “But he’s a guy that when he gets kind of a feeling, he sees a couple shots – he believes it like this. And then he can hit a hundred of them in a row. His muscle memory, his hand-eye coordination, is really special. So I have no doubt he’ll shoot under par every round out here from where they’re playing from.â€�

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – PGA TOUR player Gary Woodland surprised Amy Bockerstette from Special Olympics Arizona last January with the opportunity to play the 16th hole together as part of his Waste Management Phoenix Open practice round. With a smile on her face and her can-do, “I got this� self-talk, Amy – the first collegiate golfer to compete with an intellectual disability such as Down syndrome – became an overnight sensation. Her remarkable, par-saving putt has been viewed nearly 44 million times across TOUR platforms and has been featured on the NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, the TODAY Show and countless other platforms beyond golf. One year later, the PGA TOUR celebrated the anniversary of that memorable event by announcing that the TOUR and its tournaments have surpassed $3 billion in all-time charitable giving. The charitable total, which includes a record $204.3 million in 2019 to bring the all-time total to $3.05 billion, includes donations made by tournaments on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica and PGA TOUR Series-China. “It’s truly a pleasure to thank our fans, sponsors, tournaments, players and volunteers for helping us generate over $3 billion for charity and positively impact millions of lives,� said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “As remarkable as this milestone is, what really matters are the countless stories like Amy’s that every tournament has. Together, we look forward to continuing to reach – and celebrate – millions more.� Woodland and Amy are two of those millions, and it’s been a whirlwind for both since the two first met at TPC Scottsdale. Woodland and his wife, Gabby, have welcomed twins; he celebrated the biggest win of his career at the U.S. Open, telling Amy he “used (her) positive energy� to do so; and Amy has become an ambassador for those with Down syndrome, launching her I GOT THIS FOUNDATION to promote golf instruction and playing opportunities for people with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities. The two will reunite on Wednesday, January 29, at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, the site of their now-famous interaction. The PGA TOUR and its more than 100 tournaments across all Tours achieved the $3 billion mark just six years after surpassing $2 billion in 2014. The TOUR achieved the $1 billion mark in 2005. In addition, the record $204.3 million in 2019 bests the previous record of $190 million in 2018. The TOUR’s first charitable donation of $10,000 was at the 1938 Palm Beach Invitational. These dollars positively impact more than 3,000 nonprofits each year, such as the First Tee, which has introduced more than 15 million young people to its character-building programs through the game of golf. Each PGA TOUR tournament provides individuals an opportunity to give back to the community in one of three ways – attending an event, volunteering, or donating money. Not-for-profit tournaments under the PGA TOUR umbrella donate their net proceeds to support local organizations, totaling more than $3 billion in donations to date. The impact these tournaments make throughout the year is possible thanks to the more than 100,000 volunteers who commit their time to ensure each event is a success. To learn more about the PGA TOUR and the positive impact of its tournaments, volunteers, players, sponsors and fans, please visit PGATOUR.COM/IMPACT. Additional impactful storylines from the 2018-19 season: Alex Trevino has Ewing sarcoma. In addition to having his Make-A-Wish of meeting Jordan Spieth – his favorite player – granted at the Valero Texas Open, Alex’s VIP experience included signing a one-day contract with Titleist, complete with a lesson with Spieth to test out his new clubs. Spieth, who promised Alex he’d see him again when he was feeling better, was reunited with Alex with a surprise visit in November. Matthew McClish underwent what would be his final of multiple brain surgeries, but when he woke up from the procedure, doctors told him that he had a stroke during surgery, causing paralysis on the left side of his body and impaired vision. Matthew, an accomplished player, relearned how to play golf – one-handed. At the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, Matthew was surprised by Jack Nicklaus and his favorite TOUR player – Bryson DeChambeau, the defending champion – with a private lesson from DeChambeau on the driving range. Anthony Trudel is from Parkland, Florida. During Anthony’s recovery from surgery to remove a brain tumor, all he did was watch golf, and he was an avid player prior to his decline in health. At the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Anthony’s Make-A-Wish of meeting Rickie Fowler – his favorite player – was granted with a chipping lesson, new set of Cobra PUMA clubs, and the opportunity to walk inside-the-ropes with Fowler as an Honorary Observer during the second round. Bailey Jessop, who had bone cancer in his leg, designed FootJoy shoes for Justin Thomas to wear the week of the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. The shoes were delivered to Justin by RoxoTM the FedEx SameDay Bot on Tuesday of tournament week, where Justin surprised Bailey with a pair of his own.. Sarahi Ortiz is a graduate of the Western Golf Association’s Caddie Academy Program. She was born and raised in West Los Angeles, and through school, she learned of a unique work opportunity through the Caddie Academy to go to Chicago and caddie every day for seven weeks each summer. She knew nothing about golf and didn’t want to go. However, Sarahi pushed herself out of her comfort zone because she knew a bigger goal was waiting – the chance to earn a full college scholarship. Seven years later, she became president of the University of Oregon Evans Scholars chapter and vice president of the Evans Scholars National Committee. As part of the Wednesday Pro-Am at the BMW Championship, Sarahi had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to caddie for Tiger Woods. Nikki Moore was seven months pregnant when her husband, Matt, was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. At age 32, he passed away, leaving Nikki to raise their son, Cullen, while forming the “Live Moore� brand to carry on his legacy and raise awareness for early screening. At the PGA TOUR Champions’ Cologuard Classic, Nikki and Cullen were given an inside-the-ropes experience to walk alongside Cologuard ambassador Jerry Kelly and colon cancer survivor Tom Lehman during the opening round. As Cullen is now 3, he understands that “daddy is in the stars� and is the inspiration behind Nikki’s efforts to spread awareness and knowledge so that other families can avoid the loss they endured. Four weeks after his birth, Ben Golden Peterson was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart becomes enlarged and cannot pump blood effectively. Stefani Swindle was born 15 weeks premature with subglottic stenosis, a narrowing of the airway below the vocal cords and above the trachea which required her to live with a tracheostomy tube until age 4. At the PGA TOUR Champions’ Regions Tradition, Ben and Stefani spent the day with Alabama quarterbacks Jay Barker and John Parker Wilson, Auburn quarterbacks Stan White and Brandon Cox, and three-time PGA TOUR winner Chris DiMarco during the tournament’s Wednesday Pro-Am, which draws athletes and celebrities from the Southeastern Conference, as well as inspirational kids from Children’s of Alabama. Jared Stancil and his father, Chad, took first place in unified golf at the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games. Jared, who was born with Down syndrome and endured 13 surgeries at an early age, was invited to hit the opening tee shot at the Korn Ferry Tour’s LECOM Suncoast Classic. While warming up for the shot on a chilly Thursday morning, Stancil was introduced to a number of players, including Harry Higgs and Justin Lower, who joined him on the first tee for the tournament’s inaugural shot. In Kansas City, Missouri, Brookside Charter School is a tuition-free charter school with an emphasis on honoring diversity and preparing kids and families for success. At the Korn Ferry Tour’s KC Golf Classic, Brookside Charter student Hannah James was invited inside the ropes to join Lanto Griffin during Wednesday’s Pro-Am. For James, it marked her first time on a golf course and allowed for Griffin to share his own story of how the game impacted his life at a young age. When Brandon Matthews missed a putt that would have extended a playoff at the VISA Argentina Open presented by Macro on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, he was frustrated because a fan had yelled during his backstroke. Matthews’ anger subsided when he learned the outburst came from a fan who had Down syndrome and that he wasn’t trying to intentionally make Matthews miss the putt. “I want to meet him,� Matthews said, immediately going to greet the man, Juan, to ensure that Juan was OK and wasn’t blaming himself for what had happened. “Once I learned his situation, it totally changed my perspective.� The two chatted, and Matthews autographed some items for Juan as the two posed for pictures.

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