LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Justin Thomas was just 7 years old when he came to Valhalla Golf Club with his father to watch the 2000 PGA Championship. His memories are vivid, even all these years later, as he prepares to play a PGA Championship in his hometown.

He remembers the roars for Tiger Woods, his favorite player. Now, Woods is a close friend and competitor. He remembers it all and the impact on a young boy with a dream of playing in that kind of setting.

“I remember just being probably like inspired, being very in awe,” Thomas said Tuesday. “I just hadn't been to anything that big. I mean, the energy that week was crazy. Just hearing the roars. ... As a 7-year-old, that's pretty cool to hear in person. You think you can do anything when you're that age, but watching Tiger and Bob May duel it out and how it all ended and me being a Tiger fan that I was, it was about as perfect of a week as I could have imagined. I just remember — not that you know what you want to do when you're 7 years old, but — I had a pretty good idea that I wanted to play golf.”

Thomas has played a lot of great golf, risen to No. 1 in the world, won a couple of PGA Championships and earned the kind of national fame that gets your name put on a building in your hometown. But this week at Valhalla, he can envision another perfect week: ending with himself, not Woods, hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy.

As for how the week itself will feel playing in front of hometown fans, he can’t quite envision.

“I'm not really sure exactly how I'm going to feel,” Thomas said. “Like, I've never experienced it. I've never played a professional tournament, let alone a PGA, in my hometown. So I'm sure it will be some new feelings, some good feelings. I just came out yesterday and enjoyed it. I think I’m just going to take it in and try to use it to my advantage — use the energy, the support to try to kind of get me going and push me along as the week goes.”

Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas

Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas greet each other on the practice green at Valhalla ahead of the 2024 PGA Championship.

One person who thinks Thomas will draw energy from the fans is Woods, and he should know. While he hasn’t played a major in his hometown, he has experienced large galleries his whole career. And he knows how much playing in Louisville will mean to Thomas.

“I don't know if JT was in diapers still or not (in 2000), but I think that having a major come to your hometown where you grew up is special for him,” Woods said. “It's special for (father) Mike and (mother) Jenny and everyone who's been involved in his life. This is his hometown. The fact that he's able to play a major championship where he grew up is special. Unfortunately, I can't say that I ever have, just because I missed the (2023) U.S. Open at L.A. Country Club. It would have been nice to play in my hometown. But to have JT come here and, he's going to get some appreciation from the fans and the ovations are going to be loud for him, as they should be.”

Thomas has managed his week carefully. He got onto the Valhalla course ahead of the crowds and he needed to familiarize himself with it. It’s been a decade since he played the course, he said.

When asked about any advantage he might get from playing on a “home” course, he played it down.

“I think if we were playing Harmony Landing, I would have a little bit more of an advantage than Valhalla,” Thomas said. “I haven't played here that many times. I've probably played 10, maybe 15. I think when I played last Sunday I was saying to my dad, 'I don't think I've been out here in eight or 10 years.' It had been a while. It just was a really, really big deal to play here when I was a kid. Not to mention I had Harmony that was all of four minutes from my house. The way I looked at it, I was fortunate to have a couple birthdays where my parents surprised me, and I came out here, and I think maybe my first couple years as a pro when I lived at home they were gracious enough to let me come out a couple times a year, whether it was to play or practice. The course hasn't changed too much from what I remember. It's all very right in front of you. You just hit a driver really far and really straight and hit your irons well. That seems to be the theme here.”

Thomas is looking to get back on the kind of roll he was on that led him to the No. 1 ranking in the world. The Masters was his third missed cut in five events. He ranks No. 31 in the Official World Golf Rankings. A week after failing to make the cut at Augusta, he did tie for fifth in the RBC Heritage and is coming off a tie for 21st in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow.

Justin Thomas

Justin Thomas during a PGA Championship news conference at Valhalla Golf Club on May 14, 2024.

“I feel like I'm playing well,” Thomas said. “I feel like I haven't necessarily gotten as much out of my golf as I feel like I've been playing, which can be frustrating at times. But it also just reminds me that I am close and I just need to kind of stay patient. I finally feel like at least this year I know I've been playing well enough to win. It's just a matter of doing it. There's plenty of -- I don't know how to put a number on it -- but I'm sure there's anywhere from 10 to 20 people each week that probably play well enough to win, it's just there's only one that takes advantage the most and does all the right things, and I just haven't been that person this year, and hopefully it happens sooner rather than later. But I just have to keep trusting what I'm doing and understand I'm working on all the right things and know that it will happen. I just can't force the issue or press because that usually doesn't end well.”

He doesn’t anticipate pressing any more this week playing at home, no matter how important the tournament is to him. And it is important.

“I take a lot of pride in being from Louisville and I've enjoyed the couple opportunities I've had to watch tournaments out here and just seeing the people seeing this week, whether it's volunteers on this tee boxes or working the clubhouse or in the gallery,” Thomas said. “... It's been great. It's been nothing but great things so far. I know it's only Tuesday morning, but no, the feelings and everything I've had have been all positive.”

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