The 2026 Ford NSW Open at The Vintage is a date American Kameron Williams has had circled on his calendar for quite some time, and tomorrow’s South Coast Open Regional Qualifying event is his shot at getting there.
The 30-year-old, from Gainesville, Georgia, tees off chasing a spot back in the field that handed him one of the toughest days of his career. In last year’s appearance at The Vintage, Williams carded the highest round of his eight-year professional career during a final round in contention, a result he’s been building toward putting right ever since.
“I want to get back to Vintage, of course. Caught some bad blood, but I want it again,” he said.
“It just, unfortunately, came with a lot of lessons.”
“It’s been circled on the calendar. The whole goal is to try to get back there first, because you can always take care of business there and it helps a lot with the season.”
Williams arrives at the qualifier in career-best form, backed by a gamble that’s paid off. After a solid run around his home country club in the United States, the Reinhardt University product decided to sign up for Q School again rather than play it safe, using his state open winnings to fund the trip to Australia.
“Screw it, I signed up for Q School again, backdoored my way into status,” Williams said.
“Played my state open, made enough money to afford the flight down. Got on a plane and, yeah, I’ve had a good little run.”
That run has included a cut made at the PNG Open, a string of solid rounds through the pro-ams, and a share of the win at Belmont, giving him the form to back a run at Ford NSW Open qualification.
It’s a stark turnaround from a player who spent last year managing a shoulder injury. Williams said the difference this season has come down to simply going home, getting healthy, and building patiently from there.
“I went home and got healthy, that’s kind of the best way I’ve described it,” he said.
“Just focussed on getting right, had a shoulder thing last year, got it fixed and then kind of just kept going.”
With back-to-back events on the schedule over the next few weeks including the Queanbeyan Qualifying event and the Men’s World Sand Greens Championship, Williams says the grind of playing day after day doesn’t faze him, and he’s noticed the fields getting stronger as prize money grows across the regional circuit.
“We play golf every day regardless of whether there’s comps or not, for most of us,” he said.
“It’s actually a little bit easier on the body, if you ask me.”
“There’s more big two-day events and they tend to bring good fields, so you get to see where you’re stacking up,” he said.
Williams tees off in the South Coast Open Regional Qualifying event tomorrow at 10am, with a place in the Ford NSW Open field on the line.
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