Joe Dean's Driven to Succeed...

Joe Dean, the former Lindrick and Hillsborough golfer now attached to College Pines, made headlines when he managed to take time off from working as a Morrison’s delivery driver to bag a second place finish at the DP World Tour’s Kenya Open and a handsome £170,000 cheque.

The 29-year-old winner of the 2016 English Amateur Championship at Alwoodley came through DP World Tour Qualifying in November alongside fellow South Yorkshireman Josh Berry.

Doncaster’s Berry also made the cut at the Kenya Open, finishing in a tie for 23rd and pocketing £18,200 for his best payday yet in his inaugural campaign. Alex Fitzpatrick (Hallamshire – now attached to Hollinwell) was a shot ahead on -7 his tie in 19th being worth £27,350.

Another South Yorkshireman, Hallowes’ Sam Bairstow, missed the cut in Kenya, however it was the first time he’d missed the weekend after a streak of five consecutive cuts made, bagging £86,000 in the process.

Joe Dean went into the Nairobi field ranked world number 2,930 but finished joint 2nd behind Darius van Driel in Nairobi after a final day -4 took him to -12 for the tournament.

Describing it as “life-changing”, he said: “It’s what people dream of.”

The Sheffield man came through six rounds of final Q School at Infinitum in November, scraping

through in a tie for 22nd place. He didn’t compete until the Qatar Masters in February as he could not afford to fund the travel. Dean missed the cut in Doha and returned to his job delivering for Morrisons, which he was doing as recently as the week before Kenya.

In Nairobi he found himself two shots behind eventual winner Van Driel after round one, then matched the Dutchman over the next three rounds to finish two back alongside Spaniard Nacho Elvira. The finish jumped him to 36th place on the Race to Dubai rankings.

“After the last three or four years I never thought I’d get another chance,” he said, adding that he has “still some gremlins to get past in order to get to my full potential, but like anyone you’ve got to get over them, squash them and keep going.

“I’ve never been one of the most over-confident people – coming into this week was a bit daunting. Second event, you don’t really feel like you belong and feel like you’re trying to prove something.

“Luckily, I managed to get over that quickly and figure out how to get around the golf course.”

After winning the English Amateur he earned a place in the 146th Open at Royal Birkdale in 2017 where he made the cut.

A fallow few years saw him make just two appearances on the main tour in 2019 before he came through this year’s qualifying with a tie for 9th place at Donnington Grove Golf Club, before a morale-boosting 2nd place in the next round earned his spot at final qualifying.

Meanwhile closer to home, word on the grapevine is that Morrisons have a vacancy for a delivery driver...