Last Friday, Kamaiu Johnson was disqualified from the Arnold Palmer for signing an incorrect scorecard.
The Twitter account “Monday Q Info” was the first to share details on the disqualification.
Kamaiu Johnson was Disqualified from the Arnold Palmer today for signing an incorrect scorecard.
The full story includes a walking scorer, a rules official, and some video footage.
The full story below pic.twitter.com/W04nFfOBnu
— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) March 4, 2023
Johnson replied to the tweet, saying “I take the integrity of the game very seriously and I’m sorry this happened. I got a little overwhelmed in the moment with the group on the clock and lost count of my missed putts from 3 feet. I’ll do better.”
The replies to his tweet were not empathetic, with many people doubting that he could “lose count” so easily during a tournament.
Lots of guys get put on the clock. Can’t remember any of them “losing count” of their score, especially when it’s on the low side. You tried to cheat and got caught. Shouldn’t be playing on the PGA Tour.
— Overheard On Tour (@PGATourElevator) March 4, 2023
That’s not believable. You know what you made
— Parker Houston (@Houston_NoProb) March 4, 2023
The story was investigated further when Golfweek spoke to Johnson’s playing partner on Friday, Nick Hardy, who said it “may have been a cheating situation”.
“The amount of chances that he had to say he made a six is unfortunate because it looks like there may have been a cheating situation,” Hardy said. “I know that especially when I’m in a tournament atmosphere, that whenever I’m playing golf there is never a time where I forget what I shot.
“I’ll say this, they gave him many opportunities after the round, even after he signed his card, a couple more opportunities to maybe say he made a 7. I think they knew they had video evidence from the running camera on 9. ShotLink said he had a 7, the walking scorer said he had a 7 and he insisted he had a 6.
“They hinted to him that, hey, we just want to make sure you’ve got this right, and he still said he made a 6. That was the troubling issue I had.
“The Tour gave him multiple chances to come to grips with it. I know this for a fact because I was getting calls from the scoring officials for the next hour after we signed the card inside. I saw Montana [Thompson] and Casey Jones outside the locker room when they were talking to Kamaiu. It’s definitely concerning.”
Kyle Westmoreland also played with Johnson and Hardy, and wasn’t as critical of the situation, telling Golfweek:
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. He missed the cut. It doesn’t look great, I guess, for some people, but I don’t have much to comment on. It was a non-factor. I think the Tour handled it well.”
As Westmoreland said, Johnson missed the cut regardless. However, there is more context that needs to be added to the situation, as Hardy pointed out:
“That’s unfair because when he played that hole he was right on the cut line. If he had gotten away with a 6, he only needed to shoot 2 under. It mattered, it mattered big time,” Hardy said.
“I think you should be responsible. For people who think a player should get away with making a mistake like that because of a caddie’s fault or because the walking scorer should be in charge is wrong. The player should be 100 percent in charge of their score.
“The game is amazing because it taught me so many things about life. It’s like a true meritocracy in the sense that in life you need to be honest, you need to take responsibility, take ownership, have integrity for others; that’s the name of the game and to violate that is very concerning.”
When the scoring issue took place, Johnson was only two shots off the cut line and saying he missed the cut by six shots and therefore was inconsequential arguably does not properly contextualize the situation.
The integrity of the game should always be put first in these situations, and there’s no denying that this has not been a great look for Kamaiu Johnson.
