Lucas Glover, Rory McIlroy paired at BMW Championship

Lucas Glover and Rory McIlroy are paired in the first round of the penultimate event of the FedExCup Playoffs, the BMW Championship, this week at the North Course of Olympia Fields Country Club outside of Chicago.

The scramble for positioning at East Lake Country Club, site of the PGA Tour Championship, began last week with Glover claiming the victory for the second consecutive week, one shot better than McIlroy.

Patrick Cantlay, edged out by Glover at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in a playoff last Sunday in Memphis, Tenn., will tee off one group ahead of McIlroy and Glover with Max Homa, who are scheduled to take the opening tee box at 10:54 a.m. ET on Thursday. Cantlay is the defending champion of the BMW Championship and currently stands fifth in the Cup standings with Homa at No. 6.

Only the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings are still alive for the tour title.

Glover, 43, was No. 112 in the playoff standings before wins at the Wyndham Championship and St. Jude Championship lifted him all the way to No. 4. McIlroy is third. They tee off at 11:10 a.m. EDT, followed by Open Championship winner Brian Harman and Tommy Fleetwood.

No. 1 Jon Rahm and No. 2 Scottie Scheffler tee off together at 1:38 p.m. ET, a group ahead of Rickie Fowler and Keegan Bradley (1:49 p.m. ET).

The winner of the no-cut event takes home $3.6 million of an elevated $20 million purse and 2,000 FedExCup points.

The top 30 in the FedExCup standings at the end of the final round Sunday advance to the Tour Championship.