For details of advised bookmakers and each-way terms, visit our transparent tipping record
The battle for the world number one spot provides an interesting subtext to the final edition of the Dell Technologies Championship, with TPC Boston set to become a part-time host of The Northern Trust from 2019 onward as we're robbed of one of the staples of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Brooks Koepka narrowly missed out on the chance to usurp gym buddy Dustin Johnson on Sunday and one thing we've learned over recent years is that getting to the top of the world rankings means a lot, even to characters like Koepka, however flawed we might consider the system to be.
Back in the spring, Justin Thomas flattened out when presented with a similar opportunity at the WGC-Match Play and while he did enjoy a brief spell at number one soon after, it would take him until the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August, almost six months later, to recapture his best form and win his 10th title as a professional.
Koepka has been striking the ball beautifully of late and it seems a matter of time before he wins just a second non-major title on home soil, but that number one distraction surely cost him over the closing holes of The Northern Trust - not just on the greens - and remains enough of a concern to look elsewhere at a course he's so far yet to crack.
Thomas is too good to be hamstrung by defending a title and his first PGA Tour wins came in back-to-back renewals of the same event, so with Johnson hitting some worryingly poor shots and relying instead on the putter last week it's perhaps the reigning FedEx Cup champion who deserves the most respect at the head of the betting.
But while focus is quite rightly on that trio I believe we might just be about to witness Rory McIlroy return to his best and perhaps even repeat his 2016 heroics, when an otherwise lacklustre year ended in spectacular fashion with two wins in three to capture the $10m FedEx Cup bonus.
McIlroy has taken a fortnight off since the PGA Championship but has never been one who needs to have played the previous week to contend, and the case for him here is based on the fact that TPC Boston is one of the courses best suited to his game.
In 2015 and 2017 he played this event short of full fitness, winning impressively in between, while back in 2012 he was superb in reeling in and then holding off Louis Oosthuizen to win in 20-under-par and he also finished fifth after a disappointing final round in 2014.
That 2016 success in particular was seriously impressive. McIlroy made a triple-bogey in the first round and a double in the third, but closed 67-66-65 nevertheless, carding a total of 24 birdies and one eagle to reel in Paul Casey with three shots back to third.
In 2012, the gap back to fourth-placed DJ was six shots as he managed 25 birdies and an eagle and while he was at the very top of his game at the time, the remainder of the top five were or are now major champions. It was a dominant display against world-class rivals.
any of the four tips to win
any of the four to be 5th or better
all four players to be 20th or better
any three of the four to be 5th or better
Two wins in seven starts, one of which he played injured and another when working his way back from ruptured ankle ligaments, underlines just how comfortable he is here and the only other venue at which McIlroy has won twice on the PGA Tour is Quail Hollow, a strongly correlating course and one at which I believe he'd be considerably shorter in the betting.
With a scoring average of 68.85 and having earned more money at TPC Boston than any other player, McIlroy's effectiveness at this par 71 is clear and while the talk will always be about his short-game, that department was absolutely fine both at Firestone, where he contended, and at the PGA Championship.
The issue in two starts since he briefly threatened to steal the Open Championship has been McIlroy's approach play but a fortnight off will hopefully have been enough for him to turn around a part of his game which comes naturally and if that's the case, he'll be a big threat to all here.
McIlroy loves these bentgrass greens, will receive plenty of Irish support from the boisterous crowds and is also expected to be greeted by a course which has again been softened by rain, conditions under which he's at his most destructive.
An increasingly polarising golfer who some have turned against, he's still very much capable of peaking in time for the Ryder Cup and this is the event which offers him the best chance to gain a second piece of silverware in 2018.
As regular readers will know, I also have faith in Jordan Spieth's capacity to turn nearly weeks into another title very soon and at 22/1 on a course we know he likes, he's simply too big a price and therefore goes in alongside the headline selection.
Spieth wins at roughly twice the implied strike-rate on the PGA Tour and the idea that he's a world away from the player he was I find hard to understand, as he's still managed to contend for two majors this year, was also 12th at Bellerive and then fired a third-round 64 on his way to 25th place last week.
Clearly, he's not been at his absolute best but it's coming and a return to TPC Boston ought to conjure something, as it was here that his career took a big step forward when a final-round 62, during which he finished birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle, secured him a Presidents Cup wild card pick in 2013.