Rory McIlroy admits he would love to go down the stretch with Justin Thomas again this week with the US Open on the line in Boston.
McIlroy successfully defended his RBC Canadian Open title on Sunday, the Holywood star securing his 21st PGA Tour triumph after seeing off Thomas and Tony Finau by two shots in a dramatic finale.
Thomas won his second major title last month when he claimed the PGA Championship at Southern Hills, with McIlroy in contention in the final round only to fall off the pace on the back nine.
On Sunday, Thomas warmly embraced the Ulsterman on the 18th green after his first victory in eight months.
"JT is a tough competitor, but he's also a really, really good friend of mine," said McIlroy. "And I have probably more respect for him than maybe anyone else out here.
"Just because we both live in South Florida, we practice so much together, and I see how hard he works at his craft. I appreciate that and I respect that.
"It's always cool to be able to go up against the best and come out on top.
"And, yeah, we had that embrace on the final green and I just said, 'Let's do this all again next week'.
"That would be cool to be able to do it all over again with him."
McIlroy believes his first Tour win of the year has come at the perfect time.
It is eight years since he claimed his fourth major title, the PGA Championship - and a week prior to that, the 33-year-old also won on the PGA Tour when he finished out in front in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
It was the last time any player was victorious on the PGA Tour the week before winning a major and McIlroy, who flew to Boston on Sunday night, says he is in confident form ahead of the tough Brookline test.
"It's not as if I win here and then we're going to like Erin Hills or somewhere like that where it's completely different," said the 2011 US Open winner.
"It's a similar style of golf, it will probably be a similar setup in some ways.
"I would imagine the greens will be a little firmer if they get the weather they want to.
"But overall I thought it was a great week to prepare for the US Open and there's no better way to prepare yourself for tournament golf than to be in contention, having to hit the shots when you need to.
"I proved that I can do that and hopefully get myself back into position to have to do that again.
"It gives you a lot of confidence to know that, just to see where your game stacks up against the best.
"JT's coming off winning his second major at the PGA Championship. He's won I think 15 times on Tour. He's done a lot in the game.
"Tony as well. Like, Tony's struggled a little bit the last sort of six to 12 months, but he seems to have really turned it around. He had a good finish at Colonial, had another good finish here.
"So to go up against guys that are not just the best players in the world but best players in the world playing somewhat near their best and coming out on top, that, it can only give you confidence.
"And I guess for me, just some of the shots that I hit coming down the stretch, those are things to certainly build on going into the next few weeks."
McIlroy shot an eight-under 62 on Sunday to see off the American duo's challenge, crucially bagging birdies on 17 and 18 to separate himself from the chasing pack.
He said: "It means an awful lot.
"I feel like it's getting tougher and tougher to win on the PGA Tour. Just look at the two guys that I played with, I went out with a lead and had to shoot 8-under par to get the job done.
"So the depth of talent on this Tour is really, really impressive and going up against guys like JT and Tony and coming out on top, that's something to feel really good about.
"Obviously it sets me up well going into Boston."
Long-time caddy Harry Diamond wasn't on McIlroy's bag last week and another friend, Niall O'Connor, stepped in.
"Niall was great this week," said McIlroy, who will next be seen in Ireland at JP McManus' Pro-Am in Adare next month.
"That's the second time he's caddied for me. We finished fourth in Dubai a few years ago and then finished first here. So we're doing OK.
"Any time that he needs to fill in for Harry I'm feeling pretty confident about that.
"But one of the things for me, which I don't do usually, is I was pacing out all my yardage, writing all my notes down in my yardage book.
"JT and I were having lunch beforehand on Sunday and I was like, 'I had my head in my book a lot more and was really into my shots and into my golf'.
"I take on a little more of the load, but I think it really helped in terms of my mentality and my approach to some shots.
"So I think I'm going to keep doing it at this point. I've sort of gotten away from that and rely on Harry quite a lot for that sort of stuff.
"But it was nice to get back into the yardage book."
