Justin Thomas was back home in Kentucky for an occasion different from any other time in Louisville. The city honored him with its “Hometown Hero” award, and a 60-foot banner was unfurled from the building he used to pass on the way to Saint Xavier High School.

Thomas was so choked up at the presentation he couldn’t speak until he eventually said, “The things I’ve felt today, I’ve never felt in any golf tournament I’ve won.”

This was a week before the best golfers in the world — one of them a Louisville native — arrive for the PGA Championship at Valhalla.

It’s rare for a player to have a hometown major in a city that doesn’t have a steady diet of championship golf. Thomas is curious how he will respond. He is a two-time PGA champion, winning at Quail Hollow in 2017 and Southern Hills in 2022, which also was his last victory as he continues to work his way back into form.