The 34-year-old opted for rest and relaxation as preparation for the event after a gruelling 10 months on the US PGA Tour and is ready to join two fellow Novocastrians in one of the marquee groups.

This year's Canadian Open winner is scheduled to hit off the 10th tee at 7.15am alongside defending champion Aaron Townsend from Charlestown and Belmont amateur Brendan Smith.

"It's a pretty good honour for me to be given the hosting rights this year and especially in a place that's so close to home," Green said.

"Most of us have got good memories of the NSW Open because coming through the NSW Golf Association it's one of the first big events we usually played.

"I played as an amateur at Manly [1994] when Darren Chivas, who is the pro at Everglades now, won it.

"And this should be a good week because the fairways are perfect and it's pretty much set up for good scoring."

Green was joined by Townsend, Charlestown's US PGA Tour rookie James Nitties, veteran Australian professional Peter O'Malley and exciting Kenyan youngster Simon Mburu at yesterday's launch.

He copped plenty of good-natured ribbing from several seasoned Australian professionals who asked if hosting meant it was his shout at the bar for the next four days.

That would be a bill even Green might baulk at if the weather is as hot as last year when players were faced with scorching conditions.

But Green was cool under pressure yesterday.

"No, zero pressure," he laughed, when asked if hosting the event increased the pressure on him to win or at least make the cut.

"I can do 65 on the last day it's just that I've been having 79s and 80s in the first few rounds lately."

Green's last event was the HSBC Champions tournament in China more than two weeks ago.

Townsend on the other hand was fine-tuning his game at Wollongong last week where he won the NSW PGA Championship.