Lafayette Men's City Golf: Earning scholarship another step on Ajani Johnson's journey

WEST LAFAYETTE – This is a good time to pause Ajani Johnson’s journey in the world of golf and add perspective to what the 2021 Harrison graduate has already accomplished.

But make no mistake, there are plenty of future chapters to Johnson’s story. One of those unfinished chapters could be written over the next two weekends as Johnson plays in the Men's City as the No. 7 seed in the Championship Flight at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex

Another chapter is nearly complete after reaching a goal of playing at the Division I level. As an eighth-grader and after winning the local George "Chief" Bender tournament for middle school-aged players, Johnson made it known he was going to play at the highest level.

The goal has been fulfilled since Johnson will attend Chicago State this fall.

“They recruited me the hardest,” said Johnson, who fired a two-day total of 147 (+3) during last weekend's qualifying rounds. “It’s the best opportunity as far as grades and golf. I’ll be able to go to school close to free my first year and it’s a good location for me. They seemed the perfect fit.”

To reach this point, though, Johnson made plenty of sacrifices, remained patient in the process and unleashed a tireless work ethic to finally get noticed by college coaches.

“He developed physically but mentally too,” said Dave Schneider, who was Johnson’s coach at Harrison. “I’ve had a lot of kids but he’s worked as hard as any of them to become the golfer that he is.

“He’s constantly working at his game, trying to improve, trying to get better, and whenever he finds something he’s not good at, he works at it until he gets better.”

Among the sacrifices was Johnson giving up his other sports.

Growing up in Greensboro, North Carolina, basketball was the popular option and Johnson jumped into the middle of it, playing in youth leagues. He also joined the state’s First Tee program, which is designed to empower kids and teach life skills through the game of golf.

After his family moved to the Lafayette area in 2014 – both of Johnson’s parents work at Purdue – he continued to stay engaged with basketball at West Lafayette and for a brief period at Harrison. He also joined the First Tee program at Purdue to maintain his golf game.

He dropped basketball at Harrison to focus on golf.

“I was not a golf out of the womb type of kid necessarily,” Johnson said.

His actual introduction to golf was a Tiger Woods video game, which was on clearance sale, according to his father, Jamie. Armed with a set of starter clubs, Ajani improved his game by putting in the time on the course and staying late at the practice range. Here are two pieces of evidence to back it up.

As a freshman, he didn’t make the five-player sectional roster but while the tournament was being played at Coyote Crossing, Johnson went to the course to practice and “to get a little motivation.”

And there were the times Johnson snuck on Coyote, which is Harrison’s home course, to play a couple of holes when the opportunity presented itself or he’d stay at the practice range until asked to leave.

“We’d jump out there and fit in where we could,” Johnson said. “I’d be on the range by myself hitting all the balls and was asked if I had a round. I said, ‘No.’ They told me ‘you’re going to have to stop hitting all the golf balls.’

“I love the game that much. I’m trying to get out there as much as possible.”

He was part of the sectional roster as a sophomore, but the pandemic wiped out his junior season. He earned the No. 1 spot as a senior, winning medalist honors at the North Central Conference meet with an up and down on No. 18 but lost in a playoff at the sectional for the top spot.

“When he first told me about the scholarship, I was so happy for him,” Schneider said. “You have kids who come through and some are very talented but high school golf is it.

“He looked at himself and decided he wanted to be a Division I golfer. He put out some feelers and got some things back. He had the hard work and determination to set out what he wanted to do.”

Following graduation, this is where Johnson’s patience was tested.

He was 17 years old but had limited options to play golf at a Division I school, in part due to COVID-19. He decided to take a gap year and work part-time in retail, attend classes at Ivy Tech and fine-tune his golf game.

“I didn’t think I was ready for the next level of where I wanted to be and it gave me a year to get things situated,” he said. “I thought it would be a good choice to make and it turned out better for me.”

Throughout the process, Johnson has kept a “résumé,” which is basically a Google document where he updates his scores and notable achievements that he sent to college programs.

“It got my foot in the door as far as recruiting,” he said.

Indiana University East, which is located in Richmond, was the first offer. Wabash, DePauw, and Purdue Northwest all followed. He also heard from Miles College, a Division II program in Alabama, along with Florida A&M and Howard.

“The experiences I’ve had through golf are amazing," Johnson said. "I look back at the tournaments, the junior events and the trophies, I can say I did this. I’ve checked off things on my list.

“I’ve got another step to go which I plan to add more. I do look back and know I’ve been blessed to have great opportunities in this game. Regardless of how the next level goes, I want to play the rest of my life and I probably can’t live without it.”

Mike Carmin covers Purdue sports for the Journal & Courier. Email mcarmin@gannett.com and follow on Twitter and Instagram @carmin_jc

MEN'S CITY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS

Presented by the Bob Rohrman Auto Group

Saturday

At Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex

Senior Flight

7:30 a.m. - No. 8 Larry Schafer vs. No. 9 John Thompson; No. 7 Tom Caldwell vs. No. 10 Ash Puri; 7:40 a.m. - No. 3 Doug Miller vs. No. 14 Jentry Spear; No. 6 Tom Decker vs. No. 11 Mark Richardson; 7:50 a.m. - No. 4 Randy Rupp vs. No. 13 Lester Williams; No. 5 Tim Adams vs. No. 12 Randy Bond

Championship Flight

8:10 a.m. - No. 6 Kelly Greene vs. No. 27 Troy Greene; No. 11 Shane Fry vs. No. 22 Joe Couch Jr.; 8:20 a.m. - No. 3 Scott Busch vs. No. 30 Andy Oaks; No. 14 Jon Speaker vs. No. 19 Moaaz Ali; 8:30 a.m. - No. 4 Ajani Johnson vs. No. 26 Tom Cavanaugh; No. 10 Keegan Wilson vs. No. 23 Luke Riley; 8:40 a.m. - No. 2 Collin Haag vs. No. 31 Adam Oaks; No. 15 Tom Newton vs. No. 18 Josh Curry; 8:50 a.m. - No. 5 Collin McNeely vs. No. 28 Tanner Hieatt; No. 12 Earl Emerick vs. No. 21 Alex Hipsher; 9 a.m. - No. 4 Matt Toney vs. No. 29 Joshua Kisfalusi; No. 13 Nathan Allen vs. No. 20 John Herron; 9:10 a.m. - No. 8 Austin Conroy vs. No. 25 Tyler Jackson; No. 9 Mike Rivas vs. No. 24 Gavin Dunbar; 9:20 a.m. - No. 1 Brent Hofman vs. No. 32 Grant Bauman; No. 16 Ben Mattingly vs. No. 17 Mitchell Swan

First Flight

9:30 a.m. - No. 6 Ben Larson vs. No. 11 Mark Larson; No. 3 Jeff Cook vs. No. 14 Glenn Cassida; 9:40 a.m. - No. 7 Michael Linnes vs. Erik Skadberg; No. 2 Nick Thomas vs. No. 15 Mitchell Keene; 9:50 a.m. - No. 5 Jack Ross vs. No. 12 Kris Paul; No. 4 Cameron Greene vs. No. 13 Aiden Beaver; 10 a.m. - No. 8 Spencer Coverdale vs. No. 9 Grant Leroux; No. 1 Charlie Seaburg vs. No. 16 Noah Gaeta

Second Flight

10:10 a.m. - No. 6 Hayden Ritchie vs. No. 11 Tyler McNeely; No. 3 Kenneth Campbell vs. No. 14 Kyle Banter; 10:20 a.m. - No. 7 Juan Gaeta vs. No. 10 Bill King; No. 2 Phil Sharp vs. No. 15 Cole Wetli; 10:30 a.m. - No. 5 Blaire Westfall vs. No. 12 Paul Sadler; No. 4 Joseph Yeaman vs. No. 13 Jackson Williams; 10:40 a.m. - No. 8 Jesse Kuszmaul vs. No. 9 Joseph Crouch Sr.; No. 1 Dustin Allred vs. No. 16 Nels Bergmark

Third Flight

10:50 a.m. - No. 7 Brian Fine vs. No. 10 Jon Chapin; No. 8 Patrick Edwards vs. No. 9 Enrique Langford

Fourth Flight

11 a.m. - No. 7 Greg Kendall vs. No. 10 Dherrus Churchill; No. 8 Matt Vought vs. No. 9 Tony Ostrom

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette Men's City Golf: Scholarship another step for Harrison grad