Joe Dean

A brilliant five birdies in the final nine holes of the KLM Open in the Netherlands on June 23 – the day before his 30th birthday – led to Dean achieving his first Open appearance since 2017.

They brought him into a play-off with Guido Migliozzi and Marcus Kinhult and with two Royal Troon spots up for grabs as part of the Qualifying Series the issue was still to be decided.

It was Migliozzi who lifted the title with a birdie at the second extra hole, but Dean could look ahead to The Open because his world ranking – 472nd – was 60 places higher than Kinhult.

The Sheffield golfer has yet to taste victory on the circuit and has even worked as a delivery driver for supermarket chain Morrisons during his professional career, but also finished tied-second in February’s Magical Kenya Open, two shots behind Darius Van Driel, and had four more sub-70 rounds in coming joint fifth at the Soudal Open in May, again only two strokes behind winner Nacho Elvira.