CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Fighting Illini junior golfer Max Herendeen has been named as one of 25 collegiate standouts on the Fred Haskins Award Preseason Watch List, announced Monday through Haskins Award media partners Golf Channel and Golfweek.
Herendeen, a two-time PING All-American earned second team honors in 2024 and honorable mention accolades in 2025, is the first Illini golfer since Charlie Danielson to collect back-to-back All-America nods from the GCAA in his freshman and sophomore seasons. The Bellevue, Wash., native ended the 2025 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.
After advancing to the final round of stroke play at the NCAA Championship, Herendeen closed the 2025 campaign with a team-best average of 70.85 and recorded the team's top head-to-head record at 1023-179-28 (.843). Herendeen tied 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 before 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.
Herendeen enters his junior season riding the momentum of a sensational summer that included his PGA TOUR debut at the 3M Open, and was capped by Round of 16 appearances in match play at both the 123rd Western Amateur and the 125th U.S. Amateur. He has ascended to a career-best mark of No. 17 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
Preseason Haskins Award Watch List
- Daniel Bennett, So., Texas
- Mahanth Chirravuri, Sr., Pepperdine
- Ryder Cowan, Jr., Oklahoma
- Ethan Fang, Jr., Oklahoma State
- Connor Graham, So., Texas Tech
- Josiah Gilbert, Jr., Auburn
- Frankie Harris, Sr., South Carolina
- Max Herendeen, Jr., Illinois
- Filip Jakubcik, Sr., Arizona
- Ben James, Sr., Virginia
- Jackson Koivun, Jr., Auburn
- Michael La Sasso, Sr., Ole Miss
- Bryan Lee, Sr., Virginia
- Eric Lee, Jr., Oklahoma State
- Christiaan Maas, Sr., Texas
- Michael Mjaaseth, Sr., Arizona State
- Jacob Modleski, Jr., Notre Dame
- Tommy Morrison, Sr., Texas
- Luke Poulter, Jr., Florida
- Lance Simpson, Sr., Tennessee
- Preston Stout, Jr., Oklahoma State
- Jase Summy, Sr., Oklahoma
- Arni Sveinsson, So., LSU
- Tyler Weaver, Jr., Florida State
- Wells Williams, Sr., Vanderbilt
About the Fred Haskins Award
Beginning in 1971, the Fred Haskins Award presented by Stifel is annually given to the top male U.S. collegiate golfer as voted on by only college golfers, coaches and members of the golf media. Past winners of the Haskins Award presented by Stifel have captured 33 major championships and more than 400 professional tournaments around the world. Named in honor of Fred Haskins, the award is managed by the Haskins Foundation to acknowledge the top male golfer at the end of the season and to match the ANNIKA Award presented by Stifel, which acknowledges the top female Division I collegiate golfer.
