Niall Horan won't swap pop for golf

28 January 2018

Niall Horan admits there's no chance of him swapping pop for golf - because he's just not good enough to go pro.

Niall Horan

The 24-year-old singer has been in the United Arab Emirates this week to play in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic ProAm competition with his friend and professional golfer Rory McIlroy at the Emirates Golf Club.

Although Niall has been involved with the sport since he was a young teenager and plays off a handicap of 9 he insists he just doesn't have the "natural talent" to hit the greens full-time.

Speaking to Virgin Radio Dubai, he said: "I'm a sports fan in general and I watch a lot of sport and when I was 12 or 13 I joined my local golf club and fell in love with golf then. I play off 9, it basically means I'm not as good as the pros, if I wanted to be a pro I'd have to be plus 5 or 6 so I'm quite far away from that. If I had natural talent for golf then I would go pro. I'm a plodder and a hacker, like all the other amateurs. I'm even worse at mini golf!"

Although he is friends with champion player Rory, Niall admits he gets star-struck when he meets the world's top players and he can vividly remember the time he got to speak with Tiger Woods.

The pop heartthrob said: "I met Tiger once I was at the range with Rory at the Augusta National and Tiger was there and I got to meet him, it was amazing, Tiger is the reason that we all picked up golf clubs."

Although Niall is used to performing in front of thousands of fans as part of One Direction and now as a solo artist he admits he gets nervous when playing golf in front of audiences.

He said: "I get nervous playing golf, people say but you play in front of thousands of people but golf is not my field, you're stepping into the un-comfort zone and it is quite scary. When I play in the ProAms some of the crowd expect you to be as good as the pros, you'll hear them shout, 'What was that?' It's like, 'OK, you have a go and see how you find it mate.' "

Later in 2018, Niall will play a charity golf match for 'Children In Need' next year at the BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club in Surrey, South East England, to support the BBC run charity and raise money to help disadvantaged kids in the UK.