Rory McIlroy’s friend Niall Horan of One Direction reportedly launches golf agency

Pop star Niall Horan of the boy band One Direction, a friend of Rory McIlroy and an avid golfer, who reportedly has entered the golf agency business.

The Sun has reported that during One Direction’s hiatus Horan is helping launch Modest Golf Management, a division of Modest Management, the agency that represents One Direction. Modest Golf Management, according to the Sun, will attempt to recruit Irish and British golfers.

Horan, the story said, recruited Mark McDonnell, a former account executive at TaylorMade-adidas Golf, to serve as the director of Modest Golf Management. McDonnell left TaylorMade last August and joined Modest Golf Management in September, according to his LinkedIn page.

Horan and McDonnell’s relationship dates at least to 2012, when McDonnell assisted with a Darren Clarke donation of a signed TaylorMade golf bag for the charitable Niall Horan Golf Classic. Horan caddied for McIlroy in the Par 3 Contest at Augusta National on the eve of the Masters last April. McDonnell Tweeted the above photo of himself with Horan and McIlroy at Augusta.