Remember when Johnny Manziel proclaimed he was gearing up for a run at the PGA Tour?
“I’m giving myself 12 years to try to play professional golf. I’m gonna grind this out and see how good I can get and see if I can’t enter in some tournaments, and see if I can’t try and go play professional golf eventually,” Manziel said on the Green Light with Chris Long podcast back in March. “I think it is a very uphill battle, but that’s what I’m setting for my goals. I have 12 years to try and make a PGA Tour event.”
Before we go converting his nameplate from Johnny Football to Johnny Golf, take a gander at the scores the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner posted at the Texas State Open this week in Tyler, Texas.
Manziel, who has indicated he’s a scratch golfer, was next-to-last in the 156-player field after the first round of the event at The Cascades Golf & Country Club, posting three double bogeys on the front nine en route to a 79. According to the reputable Monday Q Info Twitter handle, the word in Tyler was that Manziel didn’t realize he had to wear pants to the event, then scrambled to make it to the first tee box in time and didn’t hit a single ball at the range prior to his round.
Well not off to the greatest of starts….Rumors Johnny didn’t know he had to wear pants, so he arrived at the first hole without hitting a single range ball.
pic.twitter.com/TYX9TLkbEY
— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) July 27, 2021
“I just struggled on the front nine and didn’t play the way I wanted to,” Manziel told the Tyler Morning Telegraph.
Mind you, these aren’t unfamiliar surroundings for Manziel, who was born in Tyler. His father, Paul, was on the bag for the opening round.
“It’s a good first experience for me and I had to start somewhere, and this is a great place to do it back home,” he said. “I didn’t come here by any means thinking I was going to come in here and win this tournament. 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.”
He fared only marginally better on Wednesday, tallying seven bogeys on his way to a 75. After the early wave of players, and due to a number of withdrawals, Manziel was at the very bottom of the board.
Manziel wasn’t the only former quarterback in the field — Tony Romo was making his fourth appearance in the event. Romo knew to show up in pants and shot a 71 in the opening round. Recent Firecracker Open winner Jake Doggett was again making waves — he shot a 66 in the opening round and followed with a 68 on Wednesday and was near the top of the leaderboard.
Play ends on Friday.