At the Dogwood Invitational in Atlanta, Romo opened strong with a 70 but withdrew due to back issues. Then at the esteemed Northeast Amateur, Romo—who received an invite thanks to connections with former champ Notah Begay III—opened with rounds of 71 and 79, 20 strokes behind 36-hole leader Garrett May. On Day 3, Romo was 11 over through 15 holes when he again pulled out. At the time, Romo was last on the leader board and it was not known if his back, which caused problems during his NFL career, was an issue. On Saturday night, tournament chairman Ben Tuthill did state that Romo's back was the reason he withdrew.