Black golfer keeps dream alive: ‘I play golf so I can change the world’

Kamaiu Johnson has battled through racism and other challenges to keep his dream of playing on the PGA Tour on track. And while he has encountered some obstacles, he is grateful for all the people who have helped him get to where he is in golf.

Currently, that is a good spot. Johnson, 29, of Orlando, Fla., is one of the stars of the Advocates Pro Golf Association Tour, an organization that drives diversity in the sport for African Americans and other minorities, not just on the course but also in the golf industry.

Last month, he captured the largest first-place prize, $50,000, in tour history by winning the MasterCard APGA Tour Championship in San Antonio, sinking a birdie putt on the final hole. The win secured him the Lexus Cup as APGA Tour player of the year, an award that also netted him a $7,500 bonus, use of a new car for one year and, most importantly, membership into the first six tournaments on the 2022-23 PGA Tour Latinoamérica.

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Johnson, who is Black, will be in the field of 56 players for the 36-hole APGA Tour Valley Forge tournament Tuesday and Wednesday at Bluestone Country Club in Blue Bell. He is grateful for the help he has received from people of all races and backgrounds.

“It’s all different types of people who have helped me,” Johnson said Monday during a practice round at Bluestone. “I don’t tend to just focus on the racism that I’ve dealt with. Of course, people are like that, and it [stinks] that people are like that. But there’s also great people in the world that have helped me get to where I am.

“They’ve been white people, Black people, women, men, it doesn’t matter. It was just a village that helped me get to where I am. I hope the world just focuses on that.”

Johnson’s golf story began in a neighborhood just outside of Tallahassee, Fla., known as Old St. Augustine, where he dropped out of school in eighth grade after being placed in classes for slow learners, which left him depressed.

As for sports, he was a baseball player for much of his youth. However, at age 13, he noticed that people walking on the Hilaman Golf Course near his mother’s two-bedroom apartment swung their clubs in the same manner as he swung a baseball bat, and he would mimic their swing with a stick.

Jan Auger, the assistant general manager of the course, saw him one day and made him an offer: If he would help out around the golf course, she would let him play every day for $1.

“I fell in love with it instantly,” he said, “and here we are now.”

As he got older, he tried to play in as many amateur events as possible, but the cost of competing and traveling was prohibitive. Looking back, he said, “I’ve run out of money more times than I can count.” After turning pro in 2017, he participated in mini-tours and won 10 tournaments.

Since joining the APGA Tour, he has taken advantage of his opportunities. He signed a sponsorship deal with Farmers Insurance and has obtained help with finances and club fitting from other sponsors. He has received exemptions into five PGA Tour events and, although he has yet to make a 36-hole cut, he continues to grind and fulfill a mission of sorts.

“I play golf so I can change the world,” he said. “I think golf allows me to be able to change the world. That’s my goal. That’s the reason why I play, obviously is to make it to the PGA Tour but also to change the world while I’m doing that.

“So many people have helped me to the point where I am, and so many people continue to help me build and try to reach my dream. So it’s just been a blessing to be a part of it, to be able to chase the dream, to be able to play golf for a living. I can’t complain about anything, really.”

Notes: Four contestants will local connections are in the field. They are Jeffrey Cunningham, a Drexel graduate who in June became the first African American to make the final of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur; Zach Juhasz of Bethlehem; Louis Kelly of Sewell, N.J.; and Matthew Vital of Bethlehem, Pa. Vital, 16, who will play as an amateur, will compete in a separate junior division within the tournament.