Johnny Manziel, the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner, is also known as Johnny Football, but based on his play at the Texas State Open, he probably won’t be known as Johnny Golf anytime soon.
After accepting a sponsor exemption, Manziel was in his home state this week teeing it up at The Cascades Golf & Country Club in Tyler, Texas, with his father Paul on the bag, about three hours north of Kyle Field, where he once dominated as the quarterback of Texas A&M.
However, Manziel failed to provide flashbacks of his football brilliance at the Texas State Open, sitting in dead last of 156 players (there were three withdraws) after shooting a 79 in Round 1 and a 75 in Round 2 of the tournament.
“It was great being on the home track,” Manziel told the Tyler Morning Telegraph. “I had it going for a while and just struggled on the front nine and didn’t play the way I wanted to. It’s a good first experience for me and had to start somewhere and this is a great place to do it back home.”
There may have been foreshadowing for Manziel’s tournament when, apparently, he didn’t know he had to wear pants on the course. So after a hurried wardrobe change, he started his round without a proper warm-up.
Hey, give him credit though, he still broke 80 … twice.
On the “Green Light with Chris Long” podcast in March, Manziel said he was giving himself 12 years to make a PGA Tour event. Everyone has to start somewhere and it can only go up from here for Manziel.
“I didn’t come here by any means thinking I was going to come in here and win this tournament,” Manziel said. “But I have a lot of people supporting me, a lot of family and a lot of friends that came out throughout the day. I’ve gone around this place hundreds of times. It was fun to do it in a competitive tournament setting.”
Manziel wasn’t the only Texas quarterback in Tyler this week. Former Dallas Cowboy Tony Romo was in the field and shot a 71 in his first round, placing him tied for 86th after pulling up in an air-conditioned golf cart. Romo has showcased his golf skills before, winning back-to-back American Century Championships in 2018 and ’19.
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