Spurred on by playing partner Keegan Bradley’s opening round of seven-under 64, Scott sits in second position with a round of six-under 65, converting birdie chances from five, 24 and nine feet in his final five holes.

Entering the week 45th in the FedEx Cup standings, a second-place finish is projected to launch Scott up to 12th and well inside the top-30 cut-off who advance to East Lake next week.

Victorious at East Lake in 2006, Scott has five further top-10 finishes at the venue and believes he can make a run at the $US18 million first-place prize money if he can book a spot in Atlanta this week.

“No matter what, one of the beauties of the Playoffs is that there is enough volatility that you can have a couple good weeks and get yourself right in the mix,” said Scott.

“If I was at East Lake starting 10 back or five back or six back, I’d be there thinking I’ve got a chance to win the whole lot.

“That’s a fun thing to think about. But in three more days.”

As Scott surged it was a solid start for the three other Aussies in the field.

Marc Leishman had a lone bogey in his round of three-under 68 to be in a tie for 13th, Cam Davis shot 69 to be tied for 24th and Lucas Herbert is in a share of 34th following a round of one-under 70. All three will need to significantly improve their positions on the leaderboard to qualify for East Lakes.

As the 2021/2022 FedEx Cup season draws to a close, West Australian Min Woo Lee has made the perfect start to his quest of obtaining a PGA TOUR card for next season.

Playing in the first event of the three-tournament Korn Ferry Tour Finals, Lee had two eagles and four birdies in a round of eight-under 63 to lead the Albertsons Boise Open by a shot in Idaho.

Lee has made just four cuts in 12 TOUR starts this season, but those came at the World Golf Championships – Dell Technologies Match Play (T26), Masters (T14), US Open (T27) and The Open Championship (T21).

Countryman Lucas Herbert all but secured his PGA TOUR promotion by finishing tied for fourth at the same event 12 months ago, Lee making the ideal start to his hopes of following suit.

Veteran Aaron Baddeley also made a positive start in securing one of the 25 PGA TOUR cards distributed at the completion of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

The 41-year-old went bogey free in his round of six-under 65 to be tied for fifth, Harrison Endycott and Anthony Quayle both tied for 40th following rounds of three-under 68.

Brett Rumford would back the clock to post five-under and earn a share of third heading into day two of the International Series Korea on the Asian Tour.

After starting the tournament with a double bogey, Rumford responded with three straight birdies from the third hole and added five more on the back nine to post 66 and sit just two strokes off the lead.

There are Aussies inside the top 10 also on the DP World Tour, Ladies European Tour and the Japan Golf Tour.

Jake McLeod (67) is three strokes back at the D+D Real Czech Masters, Stephanie Kyriacou (69) is tied for 10th at the Aramco Team Series Sotogrande and Brad Kennedy (69) is tied for eighth as he seeks a second win at the Sega Sammy Cup in Japan.

The 2018 champion, Kennedy returns to Japan for the first time in two months ready to recapture the form he displayed in the lead-up to The Open Championship.

Playing his first Japan Golf Tour event since finishing tied second in the ASO Iizuka Challenge Golf Tournament in June, the Gold Coaster mixed five birdies, including two picked up at the last two holes, with two bogeys to be well-placed to challenge for his second victory in the event.

Kennedy also took his fantastic scoring form to 51-under over the last 17 rounds of golf since the Golf Partner Pro-Am Tournament in May.

“The breeze made it tricky, coupled with the soft greens,” Kennedy explained.

“It was tough to get it close today. I bogeyed the 12th hole and then hit a great shot into 15, I parred 16 and then finished with birdies on 17 and 18 which was nice.

 “The greens were surprisingly quick today. I had a few putts which just went straight through the break.

“But all in all, it was a solid day and great to be back in Japan. I love this course and feel like I’m able to really be aggressive and take it on.”