Golf: Bellevue's Max Herendeen Has Good Week At The 123rd Western Amateur

Golf: Bellevue’s Max Herendeen Has Good Week At The 123rd Western Amateur

8/1/25

(Glencoe, IL) The Western Amateur is one of the most historic amateur golf tournaments worldwide. Tiger Woods, Justin Leonard, Phil Mickelson, Hal Sutton, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Weiskopf, Francis Ouimet, and many other golf greats have won this championship. Even players who don’t win go on to have successful careers, such as the 1980 Western Amateur, where six of the 16 players who made the match play portion of the tournament won at least one major. Tacoma’s Ryan Moore won the title in 2004. The 123rd Western Amateur is four rounds of stroke play in three days, then four rounds of match play in two days. Today was the Sweet 16 and Quarterfinal rounds. The championship made its return to Skokie Country Club for the week.

Bellevue’s Max Herendeen, who is currently ranked 20th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), is coming off his PGA Tour debut at the 3M Open last week in Minnesota. Herendeen played well, shooting rounds of 72 and 67, but his two-day total of three-under was two shots short of making the cut. Herendeen will be entering his junior year at the University of Illinois after a great sophomore year with the Fighting Illini, where he was a unanimous First Team All-Big Ten selection. In stroke play, Herendeen finished T-3, firing rounds of 69, 71, 70, and 67 to card three-under.

For the Sweet 16, Herendeen was paired up against Jacob Modleski, a junior at Notre Dame and 18th in the WAGR. Modleski went 1 Up on the first hole, but Herendeen recovered quickly to bring the match to all square after winning the second hole. Modleski won the fifth hole to go back to 1 Up. The pair halved the next seven holes before things got wild on the back nine. Modleski went 2 Up by winning the 13th, but Herendeen won the 14th hole to pull back to just 1 Down. They halved the 15th hole, before Modleski won the 16th hole to go back to 2 Up. Herendeen, needing to win the next two holes to extend the match, made a clutch birdie to win the 17th hole, forcing the match to go the distance. On the 18th hole, Modleski won the hole after Herendeen’s par putt slipped by the cup. The hole was conceded, which gave Modleski a 2 Up match win.

Herendeen graduated from Bishop Blanchet and was the 2022 Washington Golf Junior Player of the Year. The Fighting Illini’s season will start next month, and they will look to claim their first NCAA Team Championship. Many Illinois graduates are playing professionally, such as Thomas Pieters, Adrien Dumont de Chasart, Brian Campbell, D.A. Points, Steve Stricker, and others. The 123rd Western Amateur will be streamed on ESPN+, and you can rewatch Herendeen’s match there.