The 24-year-old Kenyan professional will be among the 156 starters in the NSW Open at The Vintage today as a guest of the NSW PGA.

In basic, broken English, Mburu explained that he met former Canberra professional Michael Etherington in Kenya four months ago and Etherington arranged for him to travel to Australia and play in a series of tournaments and pro-ams.

"I met Michael in my home town, where I was playing as a young boy," said Mburu, who played a practice round at The Vintage on Tuesday.

"He came back there four months ago and he organised for me to come here and for the NSW PGA to give me a temporary membership for three months, which is almost ending, but they are discussing to extend it for another three months.

"In Kenya, I'm a professional there and I teach kids how to play golf.

"I've only been to South Africa, never out of Africa, just visiting my friends and playing golf there, but I didn't play a tournament."

Mburu said he had not made the cut at any of the four-round tournaments he has played in Australia, including the NSW PGA in Wollongong last week, but he has played in six pro-ams and missed a pay day just once.

He and Newcastle's Leigh McKechnie were joint winners of the Woodville pro-am at Guildford last month.

"It's fantastic; a very good experience for me," he said. Mburu had never even heard of Tiger Woods until he met Etherington.

But he was star-struck yesterday alongside leading Australian professionals Peter O'Malley, James Nitties, Nathan Green and Aaron Townsend at a media conference to launch the NSW Open.

"I'm feeling very good. I'm feeling very special to be playing here," he said. "I see James playing with Tiger last week and now I'm playing here with him."