Herendeen Named Golf Channel Preseason All-American
August 31, 2026 | Men's Golf
NEWS
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Fighting Illini senior men's golfer Max Herendeen was selected Monday as a Preseason Second Team All-American by Golf Channel as one of the top-20 competitors in the nation entering the 2026-27 season. As a team, the Illini were also tabbed as the No. 11 squad in the Golf Channel Preseason Top 30 ranking.
Herendeen, who was also named last week to the Haskins Award Preseason Watch List, 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.
The Illini are set to open the 2026-27 schedule in less than two weeks, traveling to the Pacific Northwest to compete in the Sahalee Players Championship at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Wash., Sept. 12-13. Illinois previously opened the 2023-24 season at Sahalee when Herendeen, then a freshman, tied for medalist honors in his collegiate debut.
