CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Fighting Illini men's golf senior Jackson Buchanan and sophomore Max Herendeen were each tabbed as honorable mention selections on the 2025 Golfweek All-America team released Wednesday.
Buchanan earned his third consecutive honorable mention All-America nod from Golfweek. Herendeen was recognized for the second straight year after earning second team honors as a freshman last season.
The 2025 Byron Nelson Award winner, Illinois' Big Ten Medal of Honor recipient, unanimous All-Big Ten selection, and GCAA PING All-Midwest Region honoree, Buchanan finished his senior year ranking first on the team and third in the Big Ten at No. 37 in the NCAA Division I men's golf player rankings and reached as high as 11th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) during the season. This year, he posted a career-best stroke average of 70.93 and secured his fourth-career collegiate victory at the Fallen Oak Collegiate Invitational. He posted a team-best eight top-10 finishes, including a third-place showing in the team's win last fall at the Steelwood Collegiate Invitational, and led the Orange and Blue with 26 of 42 rounds at par or better. He is set to make his professional debut next week at the U.S. Open after qualifying for the second straight year.
Herendeen, the first Fighting Illini since Michael Feagles in 2017 and 2018 to earn first-team All-B1G accolades during his freshman and sophomore campaigns, has now earned back-to-back All-America nods from Golfweek. The Bellevue, Wash., native ended the season ranked No. 38 in the NCAA player rankings, second on the team, third in the Big Ten overall, and first among the league's underclassmen. He has also reached as high as No. 24 on the WAGR charts this season. After advancing to the final round of stroke play at the NCAA Championship, Herendeen closed the season with a team-best average of 70.85 and recorded the team's best head-to-head record at 1023-179-28 (.843). Herendeen tied with Ryan Voois for the team lead with 14 rounds in the 60s and boasted two of the team's three lowest individual rounds of the year with a 63 (-7) in the final round to place fifth at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate and matching that score to tie the opening-round record at the B1G Championship. His best finish of the season came at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational where he tied for the lead with a 204 (-12) before finishing second in a playoff for medalist honors.
In addition to Buchanan and Herendeen, Illinois' signee Dane Huddleston – a transfer set to join the Illini as a junior this fall – was tabbed as a Third Team All-American following his standout effort last season at Utah Valley.
