The PGA Tour released its FedEx Cup Fall schedule of eight tournaments — one that moves from the Spring — but loses two events, including one in Mississippi that began the year before the modern tour began.
The fall will include new tournaments in Asheville, North Carolina, and Austin, Texas.
They replace the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi that had been played every year since 1968, and the Procore Championship in Napa, California, a tournament that dates to the start of the FedEx Cup era in 2007.
The title sponsorship in Mississippi was not renewed, and Sanderson Farms extended its support an additional year for 2025. The tournament began in 1968 as the Magnolia Classic and had gone through five title sponsorships over the years.
Procore signed up for a two-year deal in the summer of 2024, the lead event for the fall. This year at Silverado Resort had an unusually strong field as the U.S. Ryder Cup team was looking for somewhere to play to avoid having a month off. Scottie Scheffler won the Procore Championship against a field that included all but two players from the Ryder Cup team.
The Presidents Cup, which doesn't garner as much attention as the Ryder Cup, will be Sept. 24-27 at Medinah outside Chicago. The FedEx Cup Fall starts the week before at the Biltmore Championship Asheville in North Carolina.
The other new tournament, previously announced, is the Good Good Championship in Austin, Texas, which last held a PGA Tour-sanctioned event in 2023 with the Dell Match Play, the last of the World Golf Championships series.
There was some minor shifting in the schedule. The Bank of Utah Championship will be Oct. 1-4, a week before the PGA Tour goes to Japan. Utah was held the week after the Baycurrent Classic in Japan on the 2025 schedule
Also, the Mexico Open has moved from the end of the West Coast Swing in February to a new fall date, allowing the tour to create a two-week swing through Mexico with VidantaWorld Mexico Open in Vallarta on Oct. 29 to Nov. 1, followed by the World Wide Technology Championship in Los Cabos at the tip of Baja California.
Los Cabos is 350 miles away from Vallarta across the Gulf of California.
The tour will have a week off after Japan, and then finish by going to Bermuda, two weeks in Mexico, Texas and then finish again at the RSM Classic along the Georgia coast.
The 2026 season will feature 45 tournaments, four of them held opposite either majors or the signature events. The FedEx Cup Fall is for players trying to finish among the top 100 to secure full cards for the following year, or to earn two-year exemptions by winning.
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FILE - PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp speaks before a practice round of the Tour Championship golf tournament, Aug. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)
The Stanley Cup will have a new home this year after the back-to-back champion Florida Panthers had their season derailed by injuries.
They’re not the only perennial contender to miss the playoffs, either, with the Buffalo Sabres among the roughly half dozen newcomers in the 16-team field. The Pittsburgh Penguins are back in the dance, too.
The Colorado Avalanche have been dominant since October and go in as the favorite after clinching the best regular-season record in the NHL. That has rarely been an indicator of who hoists the Cup at the end of four rounds, and it’s anyone’s guess who comes out of the Eastern Conference, as well as the West.
“Every team in the playoffs can win,” Dallas Stars defenseman Tyler Myers said. “Every series is a tough series. That’s what’s so amazing about the NHL playoffs: It brings out the best in everybody, in every team, and it creates an unbelievable battle no matter who’s playing.”
Buffalo ended the longest postseason drought in league history at 14 seasons and did so after losing 18 of its first 29 games.
“It’s something that we strived for from Day One,” said Lindy Ruff, who is among the favorites to be coach of the year. “You’ve got to feel good about getting there. It’s hard. We’re in a division that’s been extremely hard to get there. You’ve got to look back and say that we did a lot of good things to get to this point.”
The Sabres also look as if they can do some damage in the wide-open East without Florida. They've been the best team since the Olympic break.
Also hot down the stretch was Pittsburgh, which qualified for the first time since 2022 in new coach Dan Muse's first season. The Penguins were 6-1 long shots on BetMGM Sportsbook in October to make it, but now the trio of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang gets another chance.
“A lot of people doubted us and I guess counted us out, and it just put fuel on the fire for us,” said defenseman Ryan Shea, who's set to make his NHL playoff debut at 29. “I’ve been in the playoffs in the AHL, which was fun, but this is the best league in the world.”
The Utah Mammoth made it in the franchise's second season in Salt Lake City. The Anaheim Ducks are also back with a young core coached by three-time Cup-champion Joel Quenneville.
Colorado is justifiably the best bet to win it all. Nathan MacKinnon could be the MVP, Cale Makar the top defenseman, and the reacquisition of Nazem Kadri at the trade deadline gives the Avalanche the depth to envision another parade in Denver this summer, four years since the previous one.
To do so, they'll have to go through either Dallas or the Minnesota Wild in the second round just to reach the West final.
“Confident for sure: Believe in this group. I know we have what it takes,” captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "It’s going to be a long, tough road and mentally, physically grinding. I think we’re ready for it.”
Stars versus Wild opens the playoffs with a bang, pitting two of the top seven teams in the league in a best-of-seven series that ensures one of them will be golfing by mid-May. It's the result of a division-focused format that Commissioner Gary Bettman has said leads to the best first round in sports.
"That makes for great matchups," Bettman said. “If you’re a fan of the game and you’re looking for excitement, you’re looking to be entertained, you’re looking for intriguing stories, this format does it.”
Several players who won gold with the U.S. at the Olympics have the chance to add a Stanley Cup ring to their trophy case for the year.
Colorado's Brock Nelson scored 30 goals after being a difference-maker in Milan. Carolina's Jaccob Slavin, Buffalo's Tage Thompson, Tampa Bay's Jake Guentzel, Minnesota's Matt Boldy, Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber, Ottawa's Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson are all in the running, as are two goaltenders: Boston's Jeremy Swayman and Dallas' Jake Oettinger.
The same goes for some Canadian stars who see their silver medals as a symbol of losing and get an opportunity to make up for it. That includes Edmonton's Connor McDavid following two consecutive losses in the final, and Crosby after an injury kept him from playing in the gold medal game and is chasing a fourth NHL title.
"That’s the best time of year," Crosby said. “That’s why you play.”
AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.
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Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) goes after the puck against the Utah Mammoth during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, left, puts a shot on Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart, right, after driving past defenseman Shea Theodore in the third period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, April 11, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Minnesota Wild left wing Matt Boldy (12) and Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston (53) slam into the boards chasing after the puck in the first period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Buffalo Sabres players celebrate after a victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in an NHL hockey game Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
