Max Herendeen: All-American Golfer & Citizen of the Game
We first met Max Herendeen in 2022.
He was still in high school then, but you didn’t need to know much about golf to recognize that something was different.
The sound of the ball coming off the club. The speed. The confidence. The way he carried himself around the game.
Max was already one of the best junior golfers in Washington, and one of the most naturally gifted young players we had ever watched.
Of course, we also remember him for something slightly less consequential.
He remains the only person to take the old '84 Cleveland Classic persimmon driver from our office and send one 326 yards.
We’re still not entirely sure how he did it.
But that was Max.
FROM WASHINGTON TO ILLINOIS
Long before the national rankings and All-America honors, Max built an extraordinary junior career here in Washington.
He was the 2022 Washington Golf Junior Player of the Year, a four-time Metro Player of the Year and, most notably, won the 2022 Junior PGA Championship at Cog Hill by five shots.
Then he left home for the University of Illinois.
And everything we thought might happen began to happen.
As a freshman, Max announced himself immediately on the national stage.
He earned GCAA/PING Second Team All-America honors, becoming only the fourth freshman in Illinois history to earn All-America recognition and the first to make the second team or better. He finished tied for second in stroke play at the NCAA Championship, was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year, First Team All-Big Ten and earned a place on the GCAA All-Freshman Team.
It would have been an extraordinary season for anyone.
For Max, it was the beginning.
THE NEXT CHAPTER
In the years since, Max has quietly built one of the most accomplished résumés in college golf.
He is now a three-time GCAA/PING All-American, a three-time First Team All-Big Ten selection and a three-time GCAA All-Midwest Region honoree.
He has won four times in college.
He has represented the United States in the Arnold Palmer Cup twice.
He has competed in his first PGA TOUR event, reached the Round of 16 at both the Western Amateur and U.S. Amateur, been named to the Ben Hogan Award Watch List and climbed as high as No. 17 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
During his junior season at Illinois, Max recorded the best scoring average of his career at 70.67—one of the lowest single-season marks in program history—while adding another victory at the Duck Invitational and finishing tied for third at the Big Ten Championship.
And somehow, alongside everything he has accomplished on the golf course, he has excelled in the classroom as well, earning Academic All-America honors.
The list is getting long.
But the accomplishments have never really been the reason we’ve rooted for Max.
PROUD TO HAVE BEEN PART OF THE JOURNEY
For a time, we were fortunate enough to have Max represent RADMOR as our first NIL athlete.
We believed in him then.
We believe in him now.
Our formal partnership may have been one small chapter in a much longer story, but our relationship with Max has always meant more to us than a sponsorship.
We’ve watched a kid from Washington grow into one of the finest amateur golfers in the country.
We’ve watched the expectations get bigger, the competition get stronger and the stage get considerably larger.
And through it all, we’ve watched Max remain Max.
There is still a great deal of his story left to be written.
Wherever the game takes him next, we’ll be watching, rooting for him and incredibly proud that, for a little while, we got to be part of the journey.
Once a member of Team RADMOR, always a Citizen of the Game.
Hail to the Orange. Hail to the Blue. And always, Go Dawgs.