Joe Dean was happy to see the hard work paying off as he carded a ninth consecutive under-par DP World Tour round on day one of the KLM Open.
The Englishman was one of the stories of the 2024 season as he finished second at the Magical Kenya Open presented by absa just weeks after working as a supermarket delivery driver.
He followed that with another runner-up finish here at The International as his remarkable rookie campaign saw him play his way into the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
The 31-year-old could not repeat that success in 2025 as he missed more cuts than he made, although he did make it to the first Play-Off event in Abu Dhabi thanks to a runner-up finish at the Nexo Championship.
Now in 2026, he is beginning to find consistency, and while it has not been an easy the road, he is beginning to look more established Tour player than overnight sensation.
“I’ve just been working on the same things I’ve been working on for probably the last six to eight months,” he said. “The problem with this game is you don’t know when you’re going to get the rewards of it.
“It is tough and I have questioned things a couple of times but I’ve got a good team around me and hopefully this is the start to some good form.”
The Yorkshireman birdied three of his first four holes on day one and added further gains at the seventh and eighth to turn in 31 before coming home in level par with two birdies and two bogeys.
“Just a pretty solid day to be honest,” he said. “I got off to a good start and just tried maintaining that and working on top of that.
“A couple of bits in the middle that were a little ropey, so I will probably hit a few balls on the range to work on some things, but all in all a really good day.
“It was still pretty windy out there this morning, I’d say it was at least over 20 miles an hour and we had a few rain showers to deal with.”
