St. Louis • A walk from the driving range to the 10th tee at Bellerive took longer than usual for Justin Thomas.
He made it under the tunnel to find two more people stopping him for pictures. Thomas eventually made it up the stairs, onto the putting green and up a slight hill to the tee box with thousands of fans crammed on both sides and every seat in the grandstands occupied. That’s where some degree of normalcy returned.
This was only Wednesday afternoon, and it’s certain to be far more boisterous for the start of the 100th PGA Championship when Thomas tries to become only the second player in 60 years of stroke play to successfully defend his title.