On a chilly fall morning Saturday, October 25, 2014, located in the historic Capital City of Florida, a bright and promising career officially emerged on to the professional scene. With a clearly defined purpose fueled by a story of defying the many odds stacked against him, Kamaiu (Kuh-MY-you) Johnson is a classic example of resilience, strength, and destiny. This story did not begin on that fall morning in 2014, for the story of Kamaiu Johnson from its very beginning charted a rare and unusual path to the professional ranks of golf.
On a chilly fall morning Saturday, October 25, 2014, located in the historic Capital City of Florida, a bright and promising career officially emerged on to the professional scene. With a clearly defined purpose fueled by a story of defying the many odds stacked against him, Kamaiu (Kuh-MY-you) Johnson is a classic example of resilience, strength, and destiny. This story did not begin on that fall morning in 2014, for the story of Kamaiu Johnson from its very beginning charted a rare and unusual path to the professional ranks of golf.
Growing up near Florida’s northern central border, in the two-stoplight town of Madison (population 2,807), golf was an afterthought to a skinny, fatherless, black kid. Baseball was Johnson’s first love, and he started as a catcher on a youth travel team (alongside future Cubs shortstop Addison Russell) that won the 2006 Dizzy Dean World Series. He dreamed of getting drafted out of high school, but never advanced that far. He dropped out in eighth grade (though he eventually earned his GED). “I kept getting put in these ESE [exceptional student education] classes for slow learners,” he said. “It made me feel some type of way. It actually tore me down as a kid. I was very depressed. I honestly was completely lost. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Kamaiu was 13 years old, when city golf superintendent Jan Auger spotted him swinging a stick outside an apartment complex that borders Hilaman Park Golf Course near hole number four. Auger told Johnson to head back to the clubhouse, where there would be a 9-iron and a bucket of balls waiting for him. After a while Auger offered him a deal: If he helped around the club, picking up range balls, washing carts and painting the pro shop, then she’d let him play there for a dollar a round. “And then I never got rid of him,” she said with a laugh. For the next five years, Hilaman was Johnson’s second home; he lived at the course from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., staying out of trouble and honing his game while taking on the older members with a mismatched set of clubs.
A crowded two-bedroom apartment is where he lived with his grandmother and six others.
And there are so many things that could have intercepted his young life when he dropped out of school in 8th grade. In spite of the challenges, Johnson went on to eventually get a GED. And, although the memories of a broken home will always be with him, it was a belief in himself that transformed Johnson into the role model that he has become for today’s youth, inspiring many to consider their unlimited potential.
He fell in love with golf, spending hours every day at Hilaman Golf Course or Jake Gaither Park. “I was burnt out in baseball and lost in life, Jan gave me an opportunity and I took it and ran.”
Auger wasn’t the only mentor Johnson met at the club. After his mother moved back to Madison for work, Johnson lived for two years with Ramon Alexander, a former student body president at Florida A&M who at the time was working as an aide for city mayor John Marks. (He’s now a member of the Florida House of Representatives.) “Ramon taught me how to be a man, how to take ownership,” Johnson said. “He always told me: ‘If you want to f— up your life, go ahead – it’s easy to f— up.’ And I didn’t want to be a f—up. I grew up around people who I didn’t want to be like. And so I chased my dream every day.”
Prior to his first pro tournament with credentials at the age 21, Kamaiu competed for five years starting at the age of 16 competing in well over 60 amateur tournaments, with several impressive wins, along with numerous Top 10 finishes. In 2013, Kamaiu qualified for the U.S. Amateur hosted in Atlanta, Georgia and the U.S. Public Links Championship held in Lorton, Virginia at Laurel Hill Golf Club.
Kamaiu made history by securing his third win at the Tallahassee Open in 2017. Sequencing a history of accomplishments: 2014 (-10), 2016 (-9), and 2017 (-6). The tournament, a USGA event, is presented and held at Hilaman Golf Course, located in the heart of Tallahassee. The annual tournament is open to both amateur and professional golfers. Kamaiu has successfully won over 10 mini tour events, finished in the top ten at Jamaica Open in 2019, and also finished third in 2020 at the St. Louis Open.
In June of 2020 Farmers Insurance®, one of the nation’s largest insurer groups providing customers a wide variety of home, life, specialty, commercial and auto insurance products and services, officially announced a multi-year sponsorship deal with two dynamic APGA Tour players, Willie Mack III and Kamaiu Johnson. “As an organization that celebrated diversity and inclusion, we were proud to be able to host the first ever APGA Tour event during a PGA Tour stop at the 2020 Farmers Insurance Open and help the APGA Tour further its mission of inclusivity in the game of golf.” said Jeff Dailey, CEO of Farmers Insurance.
