Just to share…
i just bridged a discrete resistor across the 2 pads as shown.
Used a 5.6K resistor as that is what i had in my box. Didn’t remove the existing SMD resistor. The result is 3.6KOhms. This is perfect as it brings it up to about 1.9A
i did put a shrink wrap around the resistor and some pins to make sure that i can still tap on the USB 2.0 pins if required.
All in all, this works perfect. Definitely do-able at home. No shipping and all that extra stuff. 
thanks to @vileer responding so quickly to my PMs.