Justin Thomas is back in the winner's circle on the PGA Tour for the first time in nearly 35 months.For the first time since the 2022 PGA Championship, Thomas is hoisting the trophy at the end of the week. He did it in dramatic fashion, sinking a long birdie putt on the first playoff hole to beat Andrew Novak at the RBC Heritage.This is also Thomas' first win as a dad after having his daughter, Molly. Immediately after the round, Thomas was emotional on the 18th green."Winning's hard. It's really, really hard," Thomas said. "But I worked my butt off and stayed patient, stayed positive. I've got a great wife, a great team, a great daughter. Just take for granted sometimes when you get on those runs and I didn't realize how much I missed winning. Just battling out there today was so much fun."The victory didn't come as easy for him as it may have seemed after Thomas tied the course record with a 10-under 61 during Thursday's first round.The greens firmed up and scoring got much tougher, but Thomas was still able to edge out Novak after the two of them finished 72 holes at 17-under."It's so hard to force the issue on a course like this," Thomas said. "It's so firm, so fast, it was so fun to play. I'm really, really proud of myself today, how patient I was and plotted my way around."I was saying to [caddie Joe Greiner] coming up 18 that I've never made a putt of length to win a tournament before. I've been fortunate to have a lot of tap-ins, but I've never made a putt and that was pretty cool. It was as fun as I thought it would be."In the end, Thomas brought some of his best golf on Sunday. He shot a bogey-free 3-under 68 during the final round before coming up with his fourth birdie of the day in the playoff to get the win.More Golf: Tiger Woods' Ambassador Plays with Childhood Hero at RBC Heritage