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With his mother hospitalized, Kamaiu Johnson unable to make PGA Tour debut after positive Covid-19 test
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With his mother hospitalized, Kamaiu Johnson unable to make PGA Tour debut after positive Covid-19 test

By Jason Diego / January 28, 2021
But for 27-year-old golfer Kamaiu Johnson, it has turned into a nightmare few days.
The American was supposed to make his PGA Tour debut on Thursday at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, but after testing positive for Covid-19, Johnson has been forced to withdraw.

On top of that, he took to Twitter to inform fans that his mother was hospitalized with the virus.

“This is turning into a nightmare from hell my mom has just been rush(ed) to the hospital not being able to breathe due to COVID 19. Pray for my family please,” he said on Wednesday.
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Johnson plays a hole at Seminole Legacy Golf Club.
A few hours later, Johnson once again took to Twitter with the good news that his mother was “feeling better.”

“I’ve been talking to my mom all day today and she’s feeling better and she’s (in) really good spirits. I told her she basically has the entire world praying for her and she told me to tell you guys to keep praying and thanks for all the support.”

Although he reports feeling well, Johnson expressed that he felt “disappointed” that his debut will have to wait, but is remaining positive nonetheless.

“To say that I’m disappointed would be a massive understatement. I’ve dreamed of playing on the PGA Tour for a long, long time, but health and safety come first,” Johnson said.

“It’s times like these where you have to keep focusing on the bigger picture at hand, and from my experience, a fork in the road often has an interesting way of leading to new opportunities. Getting a brief glimpse of the Farmers Insurance Open and what it would be like to play on the PGA Tour only further ignites the fire inside me to work that much harder to chase the dream of playing on Tour full-time.

“I am so thankful to Farmers Insurance and the entire team at the Century Club of San Diego for not only providing me with this opportunity, but also for all they’re doing to promote diversity in golf and beyond.”

Johnson’s rise into golf has drawn much attention given his humble beginnings.

An eighth-grade dropout, his future was forged by the foundation of golf. Having initially been shown the game with just a stick in his grandmother’s garden, Johnson — who never knew his father — found a home at a golf club where the assistant professional gave him work in exchange for one-dollar rounds.

Johnson hits a tee shot on the 10th hole during the final round of an APGA Tour event on the Slammer & Squire Course at World Golf Village.
Having grabbed every opportunity presented to him, the Advocates Pro Golf Association Tour (APGA) — “a non-profit organization with the mission to bring greater diversity to the game of golf” — is where he honed his game.

He carded five straight top-10s on the APGA Tour, finishing with victory over former PGA Tour pros Tim O’Neal and Brad Adamonis at the APGA Tour Championship in September.

The invite to make his PGA Tour debut followed shortly, with Johnson saying at the time that for real change to be made, players have to take advantage of these moments.

“There are really good players on the APGA Tour that, if they got more opportunities, could play on the PGA Tour,” he said. “People don’t understand how much it takes to get through Q school and everything. It’s a lot of money.”

He continued: “We have to put ourselves in position to take advantage of those opportunities. Make it to the weekend and show we can play out there just like those guys.”

And although he has been forced to delay his debut — replaced in the field by friend Willie Mack III — Johnson is keen to stress that he will be back.

“This isn’t the end of my story,” he said.

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