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Vandenberg, 28, reduced the par-70 Surrey layout to a splendid 67 that saw him lead the 20 PGA South Region qualifiers for the Glenmuir Club Professional Championship, being held at Royal Porthcawl, Glamorganshire in mid-June. Just under 100 pros teed up.
"There was nothing amazing or spectacular about the round", said a modest Vandenberg. "I hit a couple of fairway shots to between four and six feet from the flag, and at the seventh (320 yards) my second from 60 yards horse-shoed round the cup but stayed out. An eagle there would have been nice."
Runner-up, one shot behind, was German-based Simon Brown. The Bonn pro, after a flawless outward nine boasting three birdies, stumbled on the way home, with dropped shots at 10 and 17, compounded by a double bogey at the short 13th. He did though, notch three further gains for a fine 68.
Vandenberg, who lives in Sevenoaks with his girlfriend, has actually gone round the Tandridge course in 62, playing in a vice-captain/assistant pro match, but he doesn't consider that an official outing.
"I did win a Surrey Open pro-am at Tandridge a few years ago, and that was also a 67."
Vandenberg, who's nursing hopes of bidding for his European Tour card at the end of this season, will almost literally be following in Tiger's footsteps next week, after the world's No. 1 bids to win the Players' Championship on Sunday over the famed course near Jacksonville.
The young Englishman is taking part in the PGA-sanctioned American Golf Holidays pro-am, and recently finished sixth when a group of around 20 British professionals played a pro-am at Vilamoura, in the Algarve.
"I'm really looking forward to playing the Glenmuir final - I've never played Royal Porthcawl but, of course, everybody speaks so highly of it."
The last of eight regional qualifying rounds for the championship, whose winner picks up £10,000, is held tomorrow (Friday 11 May) at County Louth in Ireland. The Scottish golfwear manufacturers are sponsoring the championship for a record 15th season.