It’s go time on the PGA Tour with six Australians locked in for the opening event of richest three-week stretch of golf for the year.

- By Justin Falconer

Our ‘Big Four’ of Adam Scott, Jason Day, Marc Leishman and Cam Smith will be joined by Tour regulars Aaron Baddeley and Matt Jones for the first week of the FedEx Cup Playoffs in New York starting Thursday.

And with upwards of $US60 million up for grabs over the next three weeks, there’s plenty to play for.

The 125-strong field this week will be whittled down to 70 for next week’s BMW Championship, before the top 30 players on the season-long money list tee it up at the big finale, the Tour Championship at East Lake.

In a change to this year’s format, the leading player on the money list heading into the Tour Championship will start the week at 10-under-par. The player sitting second will begin at 8-under and so on.

That means the scenario of a player winning the Tour Championship but not the overall FedEx Cup (think last year with Tiger Woods and Justin Rose) is off the cards.

The winner in Atlanta will take home $US15 million in 2019, up from $US10 million last year.

The player who finishes 30th in the season finale will pocket an incredible $US395,000.

Leishman is already a lock to enter the final week of the 2019 season in the top 30 on the back of his win at last October’s CIMB Classic.

Despite only playing five events since April, Scott is just a few places further back in 17th.

Fellow Queenslander Day currently sits 30th so will likely have a fortnight to punch his ticket to Atlanta, while a rejuvenated Smith has more on the line this week, sitting 74th on the money list as it stands.

At 122nd, Baddeley has the most work to do this week in New York, while 114th-ranked Matt Jones also desperately needs a good finish to prolong his season.

Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy and Matt Kuchar finished one, two and three at the conclusion of the regular season.