The FedEx Cup begins at Glen Oaks Club in New York with the Northern Trust.
The top 125 on the FedEx Cup list will be cut to 100 ahead of the Dell Technologies Championship in Boston.
Players can earn four times as many points than regular PGA Tour events so Hideki Matsuyama’s lead at the top of the rankings could come under threat unless he plays well.
PGA Tour Fedex Cup leaderboard LIVE: Follow the scores from the first play off
Defending champion Rory McIlroy has revealed he will take three months off at the end of the year in an attempt to recover from injury.
“To have three months I can focus on myself, my health, my game, and just improvement, I don’t think I’m ever going to get a chance like this in my career again, where I get this opportunity to re-evaluate things, work on some stuff and just try and improve and get better,” he said.
“I feel it’s a tremendous opportunity to improve as a golfer and with my health and everything. I’m excited to play these next few weeks but I’ve already sat down with my team and we have a three-month plan going forward.
“I’m getting a lot of testing and assessments done 19th and 20th October and then… we’ll be focusing on getting me in (the) best possible shape with my body and game going into 2018.”