By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

The first event of the 2012 FedExCup Playoffs is a week away but go ahead and count on this: Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will be in the same group for the first two rounds of The Barclays.

One of the interesting aspects of the Playoffs is that players are grouped together in the first two rounds of each tournament by their FedExCup points standing. That means the players ranked first, second and third in points after this week’s regular-season finale, the Wyndham Championship, will be in the same threesome in the first two rounds at Bethpage Black.

Woods, the PGA TOUR’s only three-time winner this year, currently is ranked No. 1 in FedExCup points. McIlroy, after his record-setting win Sunday at the PGA Championship, is No. 2 in points.

With just one week left in the regular season, it’s guaranteed that Woods and McIlroy will finish among the top three in points, even though neither player is in the Wyndham field.

Of those players at Sedgefield this week, Jason Dufner could overtake Woods at No. 1 by finishing in a two-way tie for second or better. Since Dufner is currently third in points, he’s already projected to play with Woods and McIlroy at The Barclays.

The only possibility that would knock Dufner out of that group is if he stumbles this week and Carl Pettersson wins Wyndham. Pettersson currently is 449 points behind Dufner; the winner of the Wyndham Championship receives 500 FedExCup points. Dufner, however, could secure his spot in the top three by collecting 52 points (solo 19th or better) this week.

Either way, Woods and McIlroy will remain among the top three.

Woods, incidentally, committed on Monday to play each of the first three Playoffs events – The Barclays, the Deutsche Bank Championship and the BMW Championship – as he seeks a third FedExCup title.

Click here for complete FedExCup standings