John-Baptiste Hakizimana developed a love of golf as a boy in Rwanda. After suffering enormous personal tragedy — the loss of his father and five siblings in the Rwandan genocide — he found personal peace playing golf with a tree branch and a stone. He ultimately learned the sport with broken clubs and by age 12 knew that golf would be his career. Three years later, he began caddying and at 19 began playing professionally.
After moving to the U.S. in 2014, his professional career stalled, and Hakizimana turned his focus to being a caddie, settling into work at the Maidstone Golf Club in East Hampton. A recurring dream in 2020 in which Tiger Woods told him to return to the game brought him back to playing. Earlier this month, he earned his first victory on the Advocates Professional Golf Association (AGPA) tour.
“Winning means a lot, it’s a huge personal moment,” said Hakizimana, who this week is playing in the Mastercard APGA Tour Championship at Bally’s Ferry Point in the Bronx. “I thank all of the support I have to make it happen.”
To improve his golf game and be competitive, Hakizimana surrounded himself with people that believe in his success, which includes a coach and a sports psychologist. “Most of the things I work on with my coach is about course management, which is key,” he said. “I work with the sports psychologist about how I’m thinking, what are the decisions I make and my commitment. Also, we work to stay calm and focused. When I’m going to hit a shot, how to breathe.”
Hakizimana is proud to bring diversity to golf and to inspire kids to try the sport. The APGA Tour was established in 2010 as a non-profit organization to inspire an inclusive future through golf. It has gone from three events a year to now 17 tournaments held across the country throughout the year.
“Our players have such inspiring stories both on and off the golf course, and we’re really honored that we get a chance to help provide them a place to play…and inspire the next generation,” said Solomon Hughes, chief operating officer of APGA (apgatour.org). “Our guys get a chance to play at a number of different types of golf courses. It gives them a chance to see a lot of things as they try to prepare their games for the highest levels of professional golf.”
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