With One Direction star Niall Horan playing in the Pro-Am, teenage sensation Tom McKibbin, and Walker Cup stars-turned-professionals like Cormac Sharvin, Gary Hurley and Gavin Moynihan taking part, the Tayto Northern Ireland Open in partnership with Ulster Bank has a young and fresh appeal.

That perhaps reflects the event itself. A relatively recent creation, the once PGA EuroPro Tour tournament was elevated to Challenge Tour status in 2013. Now, few would bet against an eventual elevation to some sort of European Tour status.

After all, everything about the event has the appearance of a European Tour event, and a good European Tour event at that. The crowds, which began at 22,000 spectators for the event in 2013, grew to 40,000 in 2015. The estimate is well over that this year, remarkable for an event that is in the second tier of men’s professional golf in Europe.

Ross Oliver is the Northern Ireland Open event manager, which he combines with his roles as Galgorm Castle Golf Development and Marketing Manager and Assistant PGA Professional. He says that sponsors are attracted by the support the event gets, which reaches a diverse demographic.

“The attraction for sponsors is the exposure that they receive via the number of visitors attending, but also the wide-ranging demographic that we have. It is very much an event for all the family to enjoy. We introduced the food festival in 2014, which has proven to be a great success along with the kids fun area. New for 2016 we have the interactive golf zone with free lessons for all the family, plus visitors can try their hand at pitch and putt on our new fun golf area.

“So there’s a lot of exposure there for all our sponsors and they reap the benefits of that. Year-on-year our sponsors want to stay on board and new parties want to become involved.”

Galgorm Castle plays host to proceedings, on the picturesque estate surrounding a 17^th Century Jacobean Castle in Ballymena, County Antrim. Tour professionals face a par 71 track, which is tight for a Championship layout with a good mix of doglegs intertwined with natural water hazards.

Chris Selfridge, Northern Irish Challenge Tour pro says that the golf course will suit good drivers of the ball: “I know that there is a real pinnacle on hitting it straight off the tee, getting yourself into good positions. The greens are quite friendly for the most part, it’s a tee shot golf course. I know if you’re good off the tee you can do well at Galgorm.” Last year, the cut was at -3 and Frenchman Clement Sordet won the tournament at -17. So a festival of birdies and eagles can be expected, as well as a festival for local culture.

More than just a Challenge Tour event, or simply for the benefit of Galgorm Castle, the event sees itself as a great promoter for tourism in Northern Ireland. A report in 2015 said that showcasing Northern Ireland’s golfing talent could swing more than £50m to the region by 2020, according to the Northern Irish government. It is a golden era of golf for the province, with a global star in Rory McIlroy, major winners in Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell and the exciting news that Royal Portrush will host the Open Championship in 2019.

The Tayto Northern Ireland Open in partnership with Ulster Bank will receive considerable television coverage for a Challenge Tour event. There will be a 60-minute highlight show, content on European Tour Weekly and a feature on the 30-min Challenge Series magazine show, all broadcast on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, as well as a wide range of broadcasters worldwide.

“The potential worldwide viewing audience associated with the television coverage is significant and the coverage is a superb platform to promote Northern Ireland to the whole world. We work closely with European Tour Productions on the highlights show to showcase certain areas of interest in the tourism industry.

“For example, last year we had the Gobbin’s Coastal Pathway featured, the previous year there was a piece on the Giant’s Causeway in the highlights show. As well as highlighting the great golf courses that we have here, it also promotes the very best that Northern Ireland has to offer,” Oliver said.

One of the event partners this year is Modest! Golf Management, the golf management company of One Direction star Niall Horan. This has added even greater exposure to the event given Niall Horan’s incredible Twitter following of 25.6m followers. This gives the Northern Ireland Open further appeal to a different audience than what may be attracted to an ordinary golf event.

“When the announcement first went out, it gained great coverage in traditional media but on social, it really blew up! It has certainly opened up the Northern Ireland Open to a whole new demographic,” Oliver said.

Yet, it is more than just the young stars of golf and pop music. The NI Open will attract a strong contingent of Irish European Tour players such as Michael Hoey, Damien McGrane, Gareth Maybin and Peter Lawrie also. Rising European Challenge Tour stars like Chris Selfridge, Gareth Shaw, Niall Turner and Ruaidhri McGee will take on a host of former European Tour winners.

And best of all, tickets for all of this are free. It is surely the best value for money for a golf event you will get on the island of Ireland this year.