Memorial Tournament Round 1: Risky Romero Returns to Form

After round one of the 2012 Memorial Tournament hosted by Jack Nicklaus, a bewilderingly talented, yet inconsistent golfer, has put himself in prime position to contend.

Given that description, the name that might first come to mind would be Tiger Woods, who sits at two-under par—four strokes off the lead.

Who may come to mind nearly last would be Andres Romero.

The 31-year-old Argentinian, who has nearly unmatched firepower and aggressiveness on the golf course, carded a stellar three-under par 69 this morning.

Romero began on the back nine, and after an uncharacteristically clean start of five consecutive pars, eagled the par-five hole 15 after hitting his second shot inside of 15 feet.

This was canceled out by a double bogey on hole 17, after holing out from off the green for par in between. The front nine was kinder, as Romero carded four birdies before bogeying the par-four ninth hole, his last hole of the day.

The dramatic give-and-take nature of Romero's game is head-scratching.

No bounce back or reverse bounce back numbers back up this give-and-take assertion, as Romero too often posts high scores.

It makes one wonder whether he could be an elite player if he pulled the reins back occasionally and not fire at so many flagsticks.

Then again, when Romero is on, he is on.

Golf fans may remember the 2007 Open Championship at Carnoustie Golf Links for Sergio Garcia's closest call to winning a major. Also for how he failed to get up and down from the greenside bunker on hole 72.

Garcia went on to lose in a playoff to Padraig Harrington by one stroke. The bizarre, typical woe-is-me manner of Garcia's post-round press conference helped steal more of the limelight, even from Harrington.

Who often gets lost in retrospect is Romero, who right before my very eyes completed the most insane round of golf I have ever seen in my life.

Don't believe me? Check out the scorecard.

Seriously.

He carded ten birdies in the round, including six on the back nine. The aggressiveness paid unbelievable dividends then, but it also backfired in the end.

On hole 17, holding a two-shot lead, he drove the ball right off the fairway into the heather rough.

Rather than take his medicine and punch out, Romero hit a two-iron to try to put it on the green.

The ball came out very low. If it were one foot higher off the ground, it probably would have chased for the remaining 120 yards needed to travel and make it near the green.

Unfortunately, the ball took a ridiculous ricochet off of Berry Burn and kicked 100 yards further right and out of bounds.

This was Romero's second double bogey of the day, and he proceeded to lip out an 10-foot putt on the 72nd hole to miss the eventual playoff by one stroke.

Anyone who can birdie that many holes on that difficult of a course, the longest in Open Championship history at the time, has an unspeakable amount of game.

After winning on the European Tour the following week, Romero joined the PGA Tour full time in 2008.

He won Rookie of the Year honors—highlighted by a victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He also finished in the Top Ten at that year's Masters and PGA Championship.

Things turned relatively sour thereafter.

New Orleans was Romero's last professional victory, outside of a tournament on the Argentinian professional circuit that took place in his hometown.

The 2009 and 2010 seasons produced zero Top Ten results.

After righting the ship with five such finishes in 2011, Romero has struggled mightily. He has missed six of 13 cuts. He has finished no better than tied for 20th at the Puerto Rico Open, a tournament played at the same time as the higher profile World Golf Championships event.

If this season is any indication, odds are this impressive play won't last.

Then again, Romero's round-to-round performance is about as easy to predict as precisely what he'll eat for breakfast tomorrow.

One thing I do know is that I'll be keeping an eye out, hoping for a birdie bonanza that could either crash and burn at any moment...

Or, once again, push the limits of comprehension as Romero did at the 2007 Open.

The talent has always been there, and the game is there for the moment. Let's hope Romero can show us some Carnoustie-caliber craziness on the weekend at Memorial.