(Photo credit: Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

The top two players in the world will play side by side in the first two rounds of the BMW Championship, as the PGA Tour paired Scottie Scheffler with Rory McIlroy to begin the penultimate tournament of the season.

Scheffler and McIlroy are slated to tee off 11:16 a.m. ET on Thursday and 1:38 p.m. on Friday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. They're not only 1-2 in the world rankings, but also in the FedEx Cup race as the season winds down.

The duo combined to win three of the four major championships this year and Scheffler is the defending FedEx Cup champion, while McIlroy has won it three times.

When Scheffler and McIlroy played together in the first two rounds of the PGA Championship, alongside Xander Schauffele, Scheffler shot 5 under par on his way to capturing the major title, while McIlroy struggled to 1 over par and eked into the weekend.

This will also mark McIlroy's first tournament since he tied for seventh at the Open Championship, won by Scheffler. McIlroy skipped the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the playoff opener.

There is no 36-hole cut at the second playoff leg in Owings Mills, Md., but only the top 30 in the points standings following Sunday will move on to the Tour Championship next week.

Schauffele, 43rd in the standings after an injury-interrupted season, needs a stellar finish to crack the top 30. He'll play his first two rounds with Michael Kim.

Other notable pairings include Rickie Fowler with Venezuela's Jhonattan Vegas -- Nos. 48 and 49 in the points standings entering the week -- and Englishman Justin Rose with J.J. Spaun.

Rose and Spaun went to a playoff at the St. Jude, and Rose prevailed on the third playoff hole to beat the U.S. Open champion. Spaun and Rose sit 3-4 in the season standings.

Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, who missed out on that playoff after a late bogey, will play alongside Justin Thomas.

--Field Level Media