CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Fighting Illini men's golf senior Jackson Buchanan and sophomore Max Herendeen were each tabbed as honorable mention selections on the 2025 PING All-America team released Wednesday by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA).
Buchanan earned his third consecutive All-America nod from the GCAA after garnering third team honors as a junior in 2024 and honorable mention as sophomore in 2023. Herendeen was recognized for the second straight year after earning second team honors as a freshman last season. Last week, both golfers were also selected as Honorable Mention All-Americans by Golfweek.
The 2025 Byron Nelson Award winner, Illinois' Big Ten Medal of Honor recipient, unanimous and All-Big Ten selection, 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 is the first Illini golfer since Charlie Danielson (honorable mention in 2014 and 2015) to earn back-to-back All-America nods from the GCAA in his freshman and sophomore seasons. 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 also tabbed as an Honorable Mention All-American following his standout effort last season at Utah Valley.
Division I PING All-America Teams
First Team
Josele Ballester, Arizona State
Daniel Bennett, Texas
Luke Clanton, Florida State
Ethan Fang, Oklahoma State
David Ford, North Carolina
Ben James, Virginia
Jackson Koivun, Auburn
Michael La Sasso, Ole Miss
Preston Stout, Oklahoma State
Brendan Valdes, Auburn
Second Team
Josiah Gilbert, Auburn
Ian Gilligan, Florida
Algot Kleen, LSU
Christiaan Maas, Texas
Phichaksn Maichon, Texas A&M
Jacob Modleski, Notre Dame
Tommy Morrison, Texas
Sebastian Moss, Louisville
Jase Summy, Oklahoma
Jackson Van Paris, Vanderbilt
Third Team
Carson Bacha, Auburn
Buck Brumlow, Georgia
Mahanth Chirravuri, Pepperdine
Pablo Ereño, UCLA
Caden Fioroni, UNLV
Drew Goodman, Oklahoma
Gunnlaugur Árni Sveinsson, LSU
Jack Turner, Florida
Kieron van Wyk, College of Charleston
Connor Williams, Arizona State
Honorable Mention
Supapon Amornchaichan, Purdue
Jackson Buchanan, Illinois
Paul Chang, Virginia
Ryder Cowan, Oklahoma
Riccardo Fantinelli, Princeton
Charlie Forster, Long Beach State
Justin Hastings, San Diego State
Max Herendeen, Illinois
Dane Huddleston, Utah Valley
Filip Jakubcik, Arizona
Matthew Kress, Florida
Eric Lee, Oklahoma State
Marshall Meisel, Wake Forest
Michael Mjaaseth, Arizona State
Omar Morales, UCLA
Gabriel Palacios, Utah
Jake Peacock, USF
Luke Poulter, Florida
Brantley Scott, Troy
Lance Simpson, Tennessee
Preston Summerhays, Arizona State
Hiroshi Tai, Georgia Tech
Hunter Thomson, Michigan
Clark Van Gaalen, Oklahoma
Braxton Watts, Utah
Tyler Weaver, Florida State
Wells Williams, Vanderbilt
