Unique Playoffs pairings set; Woods goes off in first group Thursday

PARAMUS, N.J. -- The top three players in FedExCup points are set to tee off at 8:16 a.m. on Thursday morning, while defending FedExCup champion Tiger Woods gets an early wake-up call as part of the first threesome out when the first round of The Barclays begins.

One of the unique features of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup is that players are grouped in the first two rounds based on their FedExCup points. As a result, No. 1 Ernie Els, No. 2 Steve Stricker and No. 3 Jim Furyk will play together on Thursday and Friday at Ridgewood. They tee off Thursday on the 10th hole.

No. 4 Phil Mickelson, No. 5 Justin Rose and No. 6 Jeff Overton will tee off at 1:16 p.m. Thursday off the first tee. At the same time, two of the TOUR's top young players, No. 19 Rickie Fowler and No. 21 Rory McIlroy, will tee off from the 10th tee with No. 20 Carl Pettersson.

Woods, a two-time FedExCup winner, begins his title defense in the back end of the pack this year. Ranked 112th in points, he will be grouped with No. 113 Cameron Beckman and No. 114 Troy Matteson in the first group off the first tee at 7:10 a.m. on Thursday.

No. 65 Vijay Singh, who won The Barclays in a playoff two years at Ridgewood en route to winning the FedExCup title, will tee off at 12:32 p.m. off the 10th tee. Defending Barclays champion Heath Slocum, who won last year at Liberty National, will tee off at 8:27 a.m. off the 10th tee.

The Barclays is the first event of the four-tournament Playoffs that will culminate with the crowning of the FedExCup champion next month at THE TOUR Championship presented by Cola-Cola. The Playoffs has a progressive cut for each tournament, with only the top 100 players in FedExCup points after The Barclays advancing to the next stage, the Deutsche Bank Championship, next week at TPC Boston.