Max Herendeen growing on and off the course as Big Ten Freshman of the Year
(WCIA) — For the eighth time in program history, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year wears orange and blue.
Max Herendeen, the rookie from Washington, earned the title before Illinois’s second-place finish at the Big Ten championships, the first time missing out on the gold in nine seasons.
“Obviously it’s tough coming in new, I’ve had bad habits from junior golf,” said Herendeen. “Just kinda trying to regroup and kinda rebrand yourself a little bit. That’s been a big step for me, just trying to kinda find out who I am on the course.”
Over the course of his first year with the Illini, Herendeen logged ten top-20 finishes and is on pace to set the freshman program stroke average record.
“Potential-wise and just the speed, the presence that he has in a lot of ways, yes he’s gonna be a very good college player,” said head coach Mike Small.
Illinois opens up play at the NCAA Regional hosted by Stanford on Monday, May 13.
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