Joe Dean has won the final place in the 154th Open Championship, firing a two-under 68 to take the inaugural Last-Chance Qualifier at Royal Birkdale.
According to ESPN and Golf Channel, the 32-year-old Englishman held off Andrew Wilson and Aldrich Potgieter in Monday’s winner-take-all 12-man shootout to claim the final spot in the field for Thursday’s first round. Dean, a full-time DP World Tour member ranked 264th in the world, will make his third Open start after finishing T-70 at this same course in 2017 and T-25 at Royal Troon in 2024. His fiancee Emily carried his bag on the day; the pair marry on July 21, a date Dean joked was picked because “it was cheaper.”
Wilson And Potgieter Left To Rue What Might Have Been
Dean’s round turned on the par-5 14th, where he holed a 250-yard approach with a 6-iron for an eagle to move to three-under, before a bogey at the next brought him back to two-under for what proved the winning score. Andrew Wilson closed with a level-par finish to take second, one shot back, while South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter needed a birdie at the last to force a playoff but closed with a bogey to finish third at even par, per Golf Monthly’s live coverage.
Dean spent close to four years delivering groceries for Morrisons during the pandemic to fund his amateur career, before working through DP World Tour Q School in 2023. “I never regret doing it,” he said. “My coach keeps saying to me, don’t let the game define you.” He arrives off runner-up finishes at this year’s Magical Kenya Open and KLM Open, still chasing a maiden tour title, and joins a field already previewed in Monday’s build-up to the 12-man shootout, staged under the R&A’s newly created Last-Chance Qualifier format.
