Photo by McClatchy Newspapers Tony Romo pictured with his girlfriend Jessica Simpson. Purchase this photo

Then, shortly before 6:30 a.m., Tiger Woods and Tony Romo strolled up to the 10th tee box, ready to begin their round as the featured pair in the Earl Woods Memorial Pro-Am as anxious spectators awaited.

Playing very inconspicuously in the same foursome as Woods and Romo was House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

While Woods and Romo were being framed by hundreds of digital camera users throughout the round, drawing screams and autograph requests along the way, Boehner barely received a second glance.

The spectators politely applauded his good shots, but, otherwise, he was just the other guy in the group.

Romo, of course, is the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, playing a round deep in the heart of Redskins' country.

Yet it was Woods, the genial host of the AT&T National, who was really threatening to raise the ire of the galleries, wearing gray slacks with a striped navy blue collared shirt and a white Nike cap.

Very Cowboy-esque. As if he didn't know.

Romo, for his part, wasn't wearing his loyalties on his sleeve. He was dressed very neutrally in khaki slacks with a white collared shirt with patches of blue down the sides. The only potential sore spot was a black Cowboys hat with their trademark blue star embedded into a white S, the logo for the sports apparel company Starter.

Prior to the round, there was a lot of speculation as to how Romo would be treated as a star player in enemy territory. Would he bring hordes of hecklers to the course or would he even be booed in what is considered a light, feel-good event?

For the most part, that did not happen and Romo dodged a worse-case scenario. Most of his good shots received a positive response from onlookers.

The worst he had to endure was the sporadic "Let's go Redskins" or "Cowboys (stink)" from the gallery. And Romo took all of the light jabs in stride.

On No. 9, his closing hole for the day, a fan yelled immediately after Romo struck his tee shot.

Instead of "You Da Man," or calling out the players name, a customary crowd response in golf, it was "Let's Go Redskins," prompting a smile and a chuckle from the amused Romo.

In fact, if Romo was paying close enough attention during the round, he would have realized his supporters far outnumbered his detractors.

In the gallery following this group, there were numerous people wearing a Cowboys No. 9 jersey and precious few, if any, donning a Redskins jersey of any number.

True, many of those folks could have been following the group directly behind the Woods-Romo pairing, which featured Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell and receiver Antwaan Randle El.

But, still, there was a distinct pro-Cowboys vibe hovering over Romo around the course.

After he hit a good second shot onto the green at No. 15, a man wearing a navy blue Cowboys T-shirt turned to a group of nondescript Redskins fans and bellowed, "I don't know if you all realized this or not, but he's a Cowboy."

A friend of the Cowboys fan then piped in, "Man, I don't know, but if the season is going to be like this, y'all are going to be in trouble."

Around 8:45 a.m., the Woods-Romo group finished nine holes and made the turn.

Around this time, the size of the crowd started to swell. There were around 100 people following this group at the start of the round, but the number increased to three or four times that size.

When Woods and Romo hit their tee shots on No. 3 around 9:15 a.m., the crowd was three or four deep around the tee box.

For most of round, Woods and Romo kept company with each other, strolling down the fairways together, bantering with one another. There were also times when each broke away and chatted with another playing partner, such as Boehner.

While Romo's popularity was undeniable, Woods was every bit the envy of the crowd as the quarterback, drawing the usual array of "oooo's" and "awwwww's" with many of his shots.

And while Woods clearly played the best golf of the group (although he did knock a shot out of the bunker and completely over the green on No. 2, a par 3), Romo -- a scratch golfer who has attempted to qualify for the U.S. Open -- drove the ball as far or farther than Tiger on many holes.

Although, to be fair, it appeared that Woods was clearly in a dialed-back mode for the informal round, as if not to totally embarrass his playing partners.

While walking down the fairway on No. 5, Romo had to acknowledge a fan who yelled, "The Cowboys are going to win the Super Bowl this year, Tony!"

At 10:50 p.m., the group was teeing off on its final hole and the crowd was as big as it had been all day.

Woods hit three solid, unspectacular shots to the center of the green. Romo, enduring final catcalls along the way, also knocked his ball onto the green in three, but his adventure took him through the rough.

At 11:06 p.m., a little more than four and a half hours after the round began, Romo was the last of the group to tap in his putt.

In a way, his nondescript par at the final hole was a perfect way to cap a no-drama round for a Cowboy in Redskins country.