Illinois Athletics

June 6, 2025

Four Illini Earn GCAA PING All-America Recognition

NORMAN, Okla. – Four Fighting Illini men's golfers earned 2024 Division I PING All-America recognition from the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) on Wednesday when the organization released its list of second team, third team and honorable mention honorees. First team selections were previously announced in conjunction with title match at the NCAA Championship.

Freshman Max Herendeen and junior Jackson Buchanan earned second and third team accolades, respectively. Fifth-year senior Tyler Goecke and sophomore Ryan Voois were tabbed as honorable mention.

In total 63 golfers were honored. Illinois' four honorees across the first team (11 members), second team (10), third team (10), and honorable mention (32) rank second nationally – in a tie with Arizona State and Virginia – one behind Vanderbilt's five selections.

Buchanan secures All-America status for the second consecutive season after being named honorable mention last year as a sophomore, while Goecke, Herendeen, and Voois each earned the first selections of their collegiate careers.

Herendeen is only the fourth Illinois men's golfer to be recognized as a GCAA PING All-American in his first collegiate season and is also the first Fighting Illini freshman in program history to be selected to the second team or better. James Lepp (2002 honorable mention), Patrick Nagle (2003 third team) and Charlie Danielson (2013 honorable mention) were previously honored after standout rookie campaigns for the Orange and Blue.

In addition to his second team All-America selection, Herendeen has been honored as a member of the GCAA All-Freshman team and was a unanimous selection as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and first team All-Big Ten. The Bellevue, Washington, native won the NCAA Stanford Regional and finished tied for second in stroke play at the NCAA Championship. Herendeen also captured a runaway victory in his match during the NCAA Championship match play quarterfinals, defeating Georgia Tech's Carson Kim, 5&4.

Herendeen played in every event in the Fighting Illini lineup this season and opened the year with a runner-up finish (via playoff for medalist honors) at the Sahalee Players Championship in his collegiate debut. He led the team with a stroke average of 70.87, the 10th-best single-season mark in program history and the best average ever recorded by an Illini freshman, surpassing Adrien Dumont de Chassart's mark of 71.39 set by in 2018-19. Herendeen led the team with 10 tournaments as Illinois' No. 1 or No. 2 finisher and paced the Illini with top-20 finishes in 12 of 13 stroke play events. He ended the year with a team-most 24 rounds of par or better and tied for the team lead with 12 rounds in the 60s.

Buchanan was tabbed as the Big Ten Men's Golfer of the Year and was also a unanimous first team All-Big Ten selection this season. He competed in all 13 of the team's stroke play events and closed the season five hundredths of a point (two total strokes) behind Herendeen with the Illini's second-best stroke average of 70.92. He finished as runner-up at the Big Ten Championship after claiming medalist honors at a team-leading two events – the Purdue Fall Invitational and the Duck Invitational - during the regular season. Overall, Buchanan posted a team-most eight top-10 finishes. He tied for the team lead with 12 sub-70 rounds on the year and ranked second on the squad with 20 rounds of par or better. Buchanan closed as the Illini's top finisher in four events this year, tied with Herendeen for the most on the team.

Goecke, in his lone season at Illinois after transferring from Wright State for his final year of collegiate eligibility, competed in 12 of 13 events for the Illini including 11 tournaments in the team's scoring lineup. Overall, he posted a season stroke average of 72.19, but improved to 71.80 over 25 rounds during the spring schedule and postseason, capped by a tie for fifth at the NCAA Stanford Regional before matching Herendeen in a tie for second during stroke play at the NCAA Championship. He also posted a top-10 finish as an individual competitor in Illinois' team win at the Hal Williams Collegiate and closed as the Illini's top finisher in back-to-back events at the Southern Highlands Collegiate (T12) and The Johnnie-O at Sea Island (T14). Goecke ranked third on the team with 16 rounds at par or better and was fourth on the squad with seven rounds in the 60s, including a season-best 65 (-5) in the opening round of the Stanford Regional en route to a career-low 54-hole tournament score of 200 (-10).

Voois enjoyed a breakout sophomore campaign that also included the first win of his collegiate career at the Fighting Illini Spring Collegiate, the team's final tournament of the regular-season schedule. He earned second team All-Big Ten honors, playing in all 13 of the team's stroke play events, 12 in the lineup. In addition to his win, Voois also led the Illini as the team's top finisher at the Flyer Invitational (T4) in October and the Hal Williams Collegiate (T4) in February. During the postseason, he posted a tie for 10th at the NCAA Stanford Regional and tied for 11^th at the NCAA Championship to join Herendeen and Goecke on the 15-member All-Championship team. Voois ranked fifth on the team with a stroke average of 71.63 and was third on the team in both rounds in the 60s (12) and rounds at par or better (18) entering the NCAA Championship.

DIVISION I PING ALL-AMERICA TEAMS

First Team
Luke Clanton, Florida State
Wenyi Ding, Arizona State
Mats Ege, East Tennessee State
Nick Gabrelcik, North Florida
Ben James, Virginia
Jackson Koivun, Auburn
Christo Lamprecht, Georgia Tech
Gordon Sargent, Vanderbilt
Hiroshi Tai, Georgia Tech
Michael Thorbjornsen, Stanford
Brendan Valdes, Auburn

Second Team
Max Herendeen, Illinois
Santiago de la Fuente, Houston
Austin Greaser, North Carolina
Johnny Keefer, Baylor
Michael La Sasso, Ole Miss
Jack Lundin, Missouri
Jacob Skov Olesen, Arkansas
Matthew Riedel, Vanderbilt
Cole Sherwood, Vanderbilt
Karl Vilips, Stanford

Third Team
Jackson Buchanan, Illinois
Bastien Amat, New Mexico
Gustav Frimodt, TCU
Ryggs Johnston, Arizona State
Frederik Kjettrup, Florida State
Christiaan Maas, Texas
Phichaksn Maichon, Texas A&M
Omar Morales, UCLA
Preston Summerhays, Arizona State
Sampson Zheng, California

Honorable Mention
Tyler Goecke, Illinois
Ryan Voois, Illinois
Josele Ballester, Arizona State
Michael Brennan, Wake Forest
J.M. Butler, Auburn
George Duangmanee, Virginia
Josh Duangmanee, Virginia
David Ford, North Carolina
Maxwell Ford, North Carolina
Connor Gaunt, LSU
Ian Gilligan, Florida
Alex Goff, Kentucky
Jake Hall, Tennessee
Palmer Jackson, Notre Dame
Petr Hruby, Washington
Bryan Lee, Virginia
Bryce Lewis, Tennessee
Riley Lewis, Loyola Marymount
Ben Lorenz, Oklahoma
Nick Mathews, NC State
William Moll, Vanderbilt
Sebastian Moss, Louisville
Calum Scott, Texas Tech
Herman Sekne, Purdue
Baard Skogen, Texas Tech
Jack Turner, Florida
Jackson Van Paris, Vanderbilt
Ben van Wyk, Georgia
Daniel Rodrigues, Texas A&M
Neal Shipley, Ohio State
Adam Wallin, Ohio State
Ben Warian, Minnesota