Tony Romo Surfaces at Golf Qualifier in Oklahoma, CBS Still Hasn't Said What's Next

Tony Romo showed up somewhere other than a broadcast booth on Wednesday. The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and CBS's top NFL analyst competed in a pre-qualifying event for the PGA Tour's Q-School by Korn Ferry at The Club at Forest Ridge in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, according to News On 6. It was his first public appearance since he pleaded no contest to an OWI charge stemming from his July arrest in Wisconsin.

Romo, 46, shot a 4-over-par 76 in the opening round, tying him for 48th in a 75-man field, nine shots behind the leader with two rounds left to play. He wore a gray polo, black pants and a white cap, according to video shared by News On 6 and confirmed by the Daily Mail and the New York Post.

What happened in July

Milwaukee County sheriff's deputies pulled Romo over on the high-rise bridge of Interstate 43 around 6:15 p.m. on July 23, after observing unsafe lane deviations, according to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office. He failed field sobriety tests, refused a breathalyzer, and was booked into jail that night before being released around 11 p.m. His blood-alcohol content was later reported at .15, nearly double Wisconsin's legal limit of .08.

He was issued four citations: OWI, possessing open intoxicants in a moving vehicle, unsafe passing on the right, and refusing an intoxication test. He pleaded no contest to the OWI charge in September, and prosecutors dismissed the other three as part of the agreement, according to the New York Post and Essentially Sports.

The plea deal cost Romo his driver's license for six months, an $834 fine, a mandated alcohol assessment program, and a one-year ignition interlock device on all his vehicles. If he's convicted of another OWI-related offense within the next 10 years, the deal carries a mandatory jail sentence, according to the Daily Mail.

Romo posted an apology on Instagram in September acknowledging what he called an "over-reliance on alcohol," which he said developed out of managing chronic pain from multiple back procedures during his 13-year NFL career. "I own this completely," he wrote. "As I have taught my three young sons: when you fall short, you stand up and take full responsibility. That is an important first step."

CBS still hasn't decided anything

CBS placed Romo on indefinite leave immediately after the arrest and has said almost nothing publicly since. J.J. Watt took over alongside Jim Nantz in the network's top broadcast team, and CBS left Romo off its announcer lineup through at least Week 4 of the NFL season, according to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio.

CBS Sports president David Berson told reporters in August the network has no timeline for a final decision. "In making this decision, we have to consider the impact on our image and our brand," Berson said, according to Head Topics. "That's very important to us. The focus should be and needs to be on our presentation and this great product and not on any other factors."

Romo is owed roughly $72 million over the final four years of the 10-year, $180 million deal he signed in 2020, according to The Athletic's Andrew Marchand. Whether CBS can invoke a morals clause to void that money is, per Marchand, still an open question the network is working through. Legal experts told the New York Post it's unclear whether CBS has the contractual grounds to walk away clean.

Romo has chased professional golf on the side for years, including a sectional U.S. Open qualifying run in 2010 and three Korn Ferry Tour starts in 2020 and 2021, according to the Daily Mail and Essentially Sports.

No network statement has set a return date. No network statement has confirmed a permanent split. Until CBS says one or the other, Romo's next move appears to be chasing a Korn Ferry Tour card, not an NFL sideline mic.