Herendeen Named to Haskins Award Watch List
August 27, 2026 | Men's Golf
NEWS
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – For the second consecutive year, Fighting Illini senior golfer Max Herendeen has been named as one of 25 collegiate standouts on the Fred Haskins Award Preseason Watch List, announced Thursday through Haskins Award media partners Golf Channel, Golfweek, and The Back of the Range.
Herendeen is a two-time PING All-American, earning second team honors in 2024 and honorable mention accolades in 2025 to become 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 2025-26 season by claiming his third straight All-Big Ten First Team selection, and his third consecutive GCAA All-Midwest Region nod.
After closing last season at No. 58 in the NCAA Player Rankings – first on the team and second in the Big Ten – Herendeen competed for Team USA in his second straight Arnold Palmer Cup. He enters the 2026-27 campaign ranked at No. 24 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, coming off an offseason that included an eighth-place finish at the Northeast Amateur Invitational, plus Sweet 16 appearances in stroke play at both the Western Amateur Championship and the U.S. Amateur Championship.
Preseason Haskins Award Watch List
- Max Herendeen, Illinois
- Kihei Akina, BYU
- Nguyen Anh Minh, Arizona State
- Daniel Bennett, Texas
- Carson Bertagnole, North Carolina
- Adam Bresnu, Texas Tech
- Ryder Cowan, Oklahoma
- Josiah Gilbert, Auburn
- William Jennings, Alabama
- Eric Lee, Oklahoma State
- Jay Leng Jr., Stanford
- Tyler Mawhinney, Vanderbilt
- Jacob Modleski, Notre Dame
- Luke Poulter, Florida
- Logan Reilly, Auburn
- Niall Shiels Donegan, North Carolina
- Preston Stout, Oklahoma State
- Zachary Swanwick, Florida
- Harry Takis, San Diego State
- Jack Turner, Florida
- William Walsh, Pepperdine
- Tyler Watts, Tennessee
- Tyler Weaver, Florida State
- Tim Wiedemeyer, Texas Tech
- Connor Williams, Arizona State
About the Fred Haskins Award
Beginning in 1971, the Fred Haskins Award is annually given to the top male U.S. collegiate D1 golfer as voted on by players, coaches, members of the college golf media, and past Haskins Award winners. Past winners of the Haskins Award 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, which acknowledges the top female Division I collegiate golfer.
