Kamaiu Johnson on PGA Tour debut at Pebble Beach: ‘I don’t want to go back to the mini-tour’

Kamaiu Johnson spent the past week at Pebble Beach surveying the course ahead of his PGA Tour debut.

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Kamaiu Johnson finally got a taste for life on Tour.

He’s not looking back.

The 27-year-old Advocates Pro Golf Association Tour golfer from Tallahassee, Florida, had several successes over the summer, including five straight top-10s and defeating Tim O’Neal and former PGA Tour player Brad Adamonis at the APGA Tour Championship in September. While he’s thankful for his experiences on that tour, geared toward promoting diversity to golf by supporting minorities to pursue careers on and off the course, the past few days at Pebble Beach have opened his eyes.

He’s ready to level up.

“I feel like I belong out here. … It’s very motivating to me, honestly, because this is where I want to be. I don’t want to go back to the mini-tour,” Johnson said Wednesday. “This is where I want to be. So it’s a big point that I take advantage of these opportunities that I’m getting on the PGA Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour because I don’t want to go back to the mini-tour.”

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Johnson’s dream of playing on the PGA Tour took a detour in late January when his long-awaited Tour debut at the Farmers Insurance Open was hijacked after he was forced to withdraw on Jan. 26 when he tested positive for COVID-19. Johnson had been looking forward to playing on a sponsor exemption at Torrey Pines as the result of his success on the APGA Tour and partnership between the APGA and Farmers since October.

The situation turned around quickly, however, as news of Johnson’s withdrawal from his debut inspired the Pebble Beach Pro-Am as well as the Honda Classic (March 18-21) to extend sponsor exemptions. Johnson was also given sponsor exemptions to compete in the Korn Ferry Tour’s Emerald Coast Golf Classic at Sandestin in Destin, Florida, in early April.

Any of the disappointment left from the delay of his Tour debut has dissipated.

“I told my buddy the other night, if God made golf courses, he definitely started here on this property with these great golf courses around here,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s had plenty of time to bask in the glory that is Pebble Beach since arriving in Monterey, California, on Feb. 2 — one week after his withdrawal from the Farmers Insurance Open. The eight days spent studying Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass, both of which Johnson had never played before last week, has proved worthwhile based on his knowledge revealed during Wednesday’s presser.

“(The courses) fit my eye pretty well. I cut the golf ball, so this is a cut, these are cutter’s golf courses and pretty generous off the tee, but most of them are second-shot golf courses,” Johnson said. “At Spy, once you hit No. 5 at Spy, you better be golfing your ball. On No. 5 is when the golf course gets real, so you better be golfing your ball when you get to hole 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, and that’s how I see it.

“And once you get through there, you can cruise a little bit, but then once you hit 15, 16, 17 and 18 you better be golfing your ball again. So, yeah, I’m looking forward to it, man. I’m just happy to be here and I feel comfortable on the golf courses for sure.”

Johnson said he parred Nos. 15-18 on Cypress Point during a round he played Tuesday with Harold Varner III, a day he’ll remember for a while.

“Harold and I had a little bet going and I beat him on the front, he beat me on the back,” Johnson said. “So it was fun going around that place with HV3. He talks a lot and so do I, so we hit it off pretty well. We teed off at 7:15 and we were the only ones out there for two hours, and so it was just so special.”

While Johnson won’t have the tournament experience of a PGA Tour pro like Varner and other competitors beginning Thursday, he’s confident in his ability to keep up, especially due to his driving ability and how it translates to the courses.

“I drive it straighter than anybody, for sure,” Johnson said. “I think that’s what you need around these golf courses is to be in the fairway and playing from the fairway and I think if I can just stick to my game plan and do that then I’ll have a good week this week.”

Johnson tees off his first round Thursday at 12:36 p.m. from the 10th tee alongside Roger Sloan and Nelson Ledesma.

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