2018 John Deere Classic helps raise a record $13.45 million for 534 local and regional charities

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The words on the back of his wedges remind Kamaiu Johnson that while nothing in golf has ever come easily, he is determined not to let that get in the way of his dreams. “Enjoy the process” is stamped on one of them. “Never give up” is engraved on the other. He had reason to break both wedges over his knee two weeks ago. Johnson, a 27-year-old Black man with a most serendipitous entry into the white world of golf, had done well enough on the Advocates Pro Golf Association Tour that he was awarded a sponsor exemption into the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, his first taste of the PGA TOUR. And then he tested positive for the coronavirus and had to withdraw. “I was talking to him that Tuesday and he was barely coherent,” said Ken Bentley, the CEO and co-founder of the APGA, which aims to develop minorities for careers in golf. “I talked to him the next day and he was all fired up.” The Honda Classic reacted quickly by offering him a sponsor exemption. The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was right behind, along with a Korn Ferry Tour event, the Emeral Coast Classic at Sandestin. Johnson makes his PGA TOUR debut Thursday. The first step. The ultimate goal is be a regular out here. “I can do it,” Johnson said. “For sure. I just have to keep grinding. I’ve come way too far to give up now. I’m in too deep. The biggest thing in life is to surround myself with good people.” Bentley is one of those people. He started the APGA in 2010 with Adrian Stills, who briefly played the TOUR. The hope was that it would not only groom Black players for tournament golf but open eyes and doors to opportunities in the industry. The PGA TOUR has invested enough in the APGA to make available some of its TPC network. Instead of going to public courses in hardscrabble conditions, the schedule this year takes the 60-man fields to Valhalla and the TPC Sugarloaf, TPC Louisiana and TPC Scottsdale, all of them with a history of hosting the world’s best. “We can play a tournament on a municipal course and it’s not going to prepare us for this,” Johnson said. “Just the PGA TOUR allowing that is going to go a long way. I guarantee you’re going to see more guys who look like me out here.” And now there is a chance for some real momentum. Willie Mack filled in for Johnson at Torrey Pines and already received the Charlie Sifford exemption for the Genesis Invitational next week at Riviera. Johnson is at Pebble and the Honda Classic. Pebble’s tournament director, Steve John, gave another spot this week to Kevin Hall, a former Big 10 champion from Ohio State who is Black and has been deaf since birth. Hall played the tournament 15 years ago. He was most recently was featured on CBS when it began coverage of the Masters as someone who knows what it’s like not to hear the roars. That’s four PGA TOUR stops over two months with APGA members in the field. “It is a chance for people to see how much talent there is on the APGA Tour,” Hall said in an email interview. “All those players need is a fair shake in being able to have access to everything they need to be able to get to the next level, and the APGA Tour is part of the maturing process of being a professional golfer. “The tour is only going to get bigger and better in the coming years.” For Johnson, it always has been about access and relationships. Only one of those has come easily. Johnson dropped out of school in the eighth grade, beaten down by being stuck in a class of slow learners. He was living with his grandmother in a cramped, two-bedroom apartment adjacent to a public golf course. One day, he was outside swinging a stick when Jan Auger approached. “She could have come up and said, `Hey, you’re trespassing,’ or `Get back in the house before you get hit by a golf ball.’ Instead, she gave me a 9-iron and a bucket of balls,” Johnson said. “When she did that, I found purpose in my life.” Unbeknownst to her supervisors, she charged him $1 a day to play all he wanted. Johnson helped out around the course that became a second home. By 18, he qualified for the Florida Open. He moved to New York with a friend to caddie and earned enough to qualify for tournaments in one of the strongest golf sections in America. He has won a dozen times on mini-tours, and his big one came last year at the APGA Tour Championship, which led to an exemption to a PGA TOUR event — not the one he thought, but Pebble Beach works just fine. “I wouldn’t be here without the APGA,” Johnson said. He told stories of Bentley covering his entry fees when he was low on money, all in the name of access and opportunity. He has ambassador roles with Farmers Insurance. Titleist provides equipment, which included the first time Johnson was ever fitted for golf clubs. “An eye-opener,” said Johnson, who for years bought clubs off the rack at discount prices. Bentley said along with access, members of the APGA are still lacking when it comes to equipment and top coaching. “We surveyed the players and were shocked to learn some had never been fitted for clubs, they were using wedges that were three or four years old,” he said. “We’re starting to give guys tools to level the playing field.”

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RIDGELAND, S.C. — Rory McIlroy capped off his steady march back to No. 1 in the world on Sunday with an explosive burst of three birdies late in the round to hold off Kurt Kitayama and win THE CJ CUP in South Carolina. Tied with Kitayama with five holes to go at Congaree, McIlroy, the reigning FedExCup champion, ran off three straight birdies to seize control and finished with two bogeys, hardly enough to ruin the moment. He closed with a 4-under 67 for a one-shot victory. McIlroy, who finished at 17-under 267, won for the 23rd time on the PGA TOUR and 31st time worldwide. It was his ninth time reaching No. 1 in the world, behind only Tiger Woods and Greg Norman (both 11) in getting to the top of the ranking the most times. This was no less special, and it showed when McIlroy’s voice choked ever so slightly with emotion after he won. “I’ve worked so hard over the last 12 months to get back to this place,” McIlroy said. “I feel like I’m enjoying the game as much as I ever have. I played with that joy and it’s definitely showed over these last few months. “It’s a big achievement. I’m really proud of myself right now.” This felt like a long time coming. He won THE CJ CUP for the second straight time. The South Korea-based tournament was held in Las Vegas last year, when McIlroy was No. 14 in the world. So began his climb back to No. 1, with victories in the RBC Canadian Open and the TOUR Championship to capture the FedExCup, and with help from Scottie Scheffler cooling from his torrid stretch through the Masters. McIlroy was No. 1 when golf shut down for three months at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he lost the ranking to Jon Rahm when the Spaniard won the Memorial Tournament in the middle of July in 2020. Scheffler finished in the middle of the pack at Congaree, meaning McIlroy could have been runner-up and still reclaimed the No. 1 ranking. He wanted the trophy, and it was harder work than he imagined. McIlroy was staked to a one-shot lead going into the final round and never trailed, though he didn’t have it easy until he walked toward the 18th green. Rahm, coming off a win at the Spanish Open, tied him on three occasions early while playing in the group in front of him. Rahm was still in the mix until his tee shot on the long par-3 14th caught a plugged lie in the face of the bunker, leading to bogey. He wound up with 69 to tie for fourth. The real threat was Kitayama, three times a winner while playing in Asia and Europe. The 29-year-old Californian overcame an early two-shot deficit and was tied for the lead until McIlroy took over with a 15-foot birdie on the 14th. On the 348-yard 15th, Kitayama drove the green to 45 feet and McIlroy was in a bunker. McIlroy blasted out to 5 feet and converted the birdie, while Kitayama ran his putt 6 feet by the cup and missed it coming back to settle for par. McIlroy effectively sealed it with a 20-foot birdie on the 16th, although there was a nervous moment at the end. With a two-shot lead on the final hole, McIlroy gunned his long birdie putt some 8 feet by and Kitayama had just outside 20 feet for birdie. Both missed, and McIlroy had a smile of satisfaction and relief. Kitayama played bogey-free and closed with a 67 for his third runner-up since joining the PGA TOUR last year, behind McIlroy, Xander Schauffele in Scotland and Rahm in Mexico. He made $1,134,000. “That’s a tough group of guys to beat,” Kitayama said. “I just have to keep improving.” K.H. Lee had a 68 and finished third, with Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood (65) another shot behind.

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