This year the Queanbeyan golf pro has been invited back to play for the cup named in honour of the 1960 British Open champion.

Normally Nagle can be found at the Queanbeyan course, in the pro shop or giving lessons on the driving range, but he's spent this week in Sydney preparing to tee off on the challenging Stonecutters Ridge course on today, Thursday November 10.

His goal is the modest one of making the cut, but given he rarely plays tournaments that would be a feat in itself.

The 35-year-old hit the honorary opening drive at last year's tournament when Golf NSW decided to rename the trophy the Kel Nagle Cup, following his death in early 2015.

Nagle said it was a tremendous honour for the family and while it was emotional before last year's NSW Open, his tee shot was more "nerve-racking" than anything else.

"Last year they changed the name of the trophy to the Kel Nagle Cup so I got invited to hit the opening tee shot and play in the event last year," he said.

"And then I got another invite this year to play as well.

"It was unbelievable, good for the whole family and most of my family came up and watched.

"It was very nerve-racking hitting the first tee shot, but it was good – I smashed it down the middle."

Not only did Kel Nagle win the British Open, he finished second in the US Open, won twice on the PGA Tour and 61 times  on the PGA Tour of Australasia.

But his grandson said you would never know it to talk to him.

His "pa" rarely spoke of his achievements on the golf course, which meant the Nagle name was never a burden for Jake.

"No, not at all, it's never been a burden. Everyone's always asked questions and it's never put any pressure on me," Nagle said.

"I haven't been a mad golfer as far as playing tournament after tournament so I haven't gone around and have people ask too much.

"Because it skipped a generation as far as me, it's probably not as much pressure as my uncle would have had as a pro golfer."

Nagle's spent the last month practising since he received his invitation and caught up with Gold Creek pro Matthew Millar on the driving range on Tuesday.

He's set himself the goal of making the cut in the $400,000 tournament, where Josh Armstrong is the other Canberran in the field.

"First one is to make the cut. I haven't played too much golf in the last six months obviously with the weather down in Canberra being so wet it hasn't been easy to get out and have a hit," Nagle said.

"I got the invite about a month ago, I got the heads up, so I've been playing a little bit since then and practising."