Kamaiu Johnson captures 2022 Mastercard APGA Tour Championship

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – APGA Tour star Kamaiu Johnson fired a sizzling five-under par 67 in the final round, including a clutch birdie on the final hole, to register a narrow, come-from-behind victory and capture the 2022 Mastercard APGA Tour Championship at TPC San Antonio Tuesday afternoon.

One of the APGA Tour’s most recognizable players, Johnson won the $50,000 first prize – the largest in APGA Tour history – and APGA Tour Player of the Year honors as the winner of the season-long Lexus Cup Point Standings. The birdie on 18 put Johnson at 7-under-par for the tournament. Both Marcus Byrd of Kennesaw, Georgia, and Daniel Augustus of Bermuda had birdie putts on 18 to force a playoff. Neither player was able to convert, giving Johnson the one-stroke victory.

The triumph also earned Johnson an exemption into early-stage events of the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica series with an opportunity to retain status based on performance. The Lexus Cup title also includes a full scholarship into Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School in September.

Johnson’s rise to prominence came about in January of last year, when his PGA TOUR debut via exemption into the Farmers Insurance Open was ended early in tournament week by a positive COVID-19 test. The golf world rallied in support of the 29 year-old Tallahassee, Florida, native and he was invited to three PGA TOUR events in the ensuing months, fulfilling his dream of competing at the highest level.

The victory is Johnson’s fourth APGA Tour win in the last three years having also won the Tour Championship in 2020. The winner of the APGA Tour’s Las Vegas stop each of the past two years, Johnson shot a 70-67-137, delivering the best round of the day at TPC San Antonio, the 7,106-yard, par-72 home of the PGA TOUR’s Valero Texas Open.

On the par-5 18th, Johnson found a bunker 97 yards from the pin with his second shot. His sand wedge flew just beyond the hole and spun back to one foot, giving him a tap-in birdie. Two strokes back at the start of the day, Johnson started his round with a bogey but then notched birdies on five of the next eight holes to seize the lead.

“It was definitely the shot of the day,” he stated about his third on 18. “Things have been trending in the right direction and I’m happy that it came together today at the Tour Championship. My goal was to win twice on the tour this year and take the Lexus Cup. I’ve been working hard with my team and I got it done.”

Byrd and Augustus each won $15,000 from the $150,000 purse, also the largest in history for the APGA Tour, which has grown dramatically in recent years, now comprising 18 events offering over $800,000 in prize money.

Willie Mack III of Grand Blanc, Michigan, the 2021 Mastercard APGA Tour Champion and Lexus Cup Player of the Year, finished fourth at 71-69-140. Tim O’Neal of Savannah, Georgia, and Joseph Hooks of Farmington Hills, Michigan, tied for fifth at 142.

The Mastercard APGA Tour Championship was the 12th tournament of the landmark 2022 season. TPC San Antonio is the eighth TPC property to host the APGA Tour this year as part of its partnership with the PGA TOUR.

The next tournament stop is the APGA Tour Cisco Invitational at famed Baltusrol Country Club in Springfield, New Jersey. This is a new event in 2022 and will have an invitational field of 18 players competing for the prize money of $125,000.

The tour then heads into its four-event Farmers Insurance Fall Series in the St. Louis, Houston, Philadelphia and Los Angeles markets.