Historically, the Tayto Northern Ireland Open in partnership with Ulster Bank has always been one of the European Challenge Tour’s best-supported events, with tens of thousands of golf fans descending on Galgorm Castle each year to catch a glimpse of the game’s future stars.
So on first viewing, the sight of hordes of people lining the ropes in July was not overly surprising, even if it was only for the Wednesday Pro-Am, but a second glance showed that the majority of the crowds were selfie-taking teenage girls – not your average Challenge Tour spectator!
The reason for this demographic shift soon became apparent when Niall Horan arrived to support his golf management company Modest! Golf’s role as official management partner of the event, and give the Challenge Tour its first taste of One Direction mania.
This was too good an opportunity to miss, so we quickly flew our toughest question-master, nine year old Billy, out to subject Niall to his toughest ever interview, offering him some career advice and asking him about Simon Cowell, Rory McIlroy, and, most importantly, about all those birdies.
