The top two players in the world will play at least one more round together this PGA Tour season, as Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy will make up the final pair of the first round of the Tour Championship.
Scheffler and McIlroy finished first and second in the FedEx Cup standings following Scheffler's victory at the BMW Championship on Sunday. The Texan and the County Down native also played together on Thursday and Friday at last week's penultimate event.
The Tour Championship had used a staggered start based on "starting strokes" since 2019, in which the number one in the season-long standings would begin the tournament at ten under par, second would start on eight under and so on.
That has been eliminated this year - all 30 players in the field will begin at even par, and the top player after 72 holes will win both the tournament and the FedEx Cup.
Despite that change, the PGA Tour opted to pair golfers up for the first round based on the points standings.
Scheffler and McIlroy will tee off at 2:00pm (7:00pm Irish time) on Thursday at East Lake Golf Club, with the American vying to win back-to-back FedEx Cups, while McIlroy is aiming for the fourth of his career.
Just before them are another duo that's seen plenty of one another this summer. US Open champion JJ Spaun and Englishman Justin Rose are third and fourth in the points standings and will tee off together.
Spaun and Rose went to a playoff at the FedEx St Jude Championship two weeks ago, with Rose winning on the third hole. Then they were paired together to start the BMW.
Shane Lowry will tee it up alongside former Masters champion, Hideki Matsuyama of Japan at 4:49pm (Irish time).
