Joe Dean delivered groceries just 3 years ago. Now he’s a winner on the European Tour

Joe Dean started the final round of the British Masters seven shots off the lead. Five hours later he had made nine birdies to shoot a bogey-free 63 at the Belfrey in Sutton Coldfield, England, and won fairly easily by three shots over four others.

While impressive, it’s not the most impressive part of his story.

The 32-year-old Englishman picked up a job delivering groceries during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and did that for the next four year to help pay for his golf career while he didn’t have a tour card. He also sought the help of a hypnotist to deal with issues he was having with international travel.

Dean was on the EuroPro Tour in 2022 and did not play a golf tournament that counted toward the world rankings in 2023. But somehow, later that season he earned his DP World Tour card through Q-School. In 2024, Dean had a handful of top-five finishes in Europe and again last year he was fairly consistent, finishing second at the Nexo Championship in Scotland and tying for fifth place at an event in the United Arab Emirates.

"All those painful hours and all the work I put into this, it's finally led to something," he said. "I'm happy.”

This was Dean’s time. And he did it all with his new wife Emily on the bag. The two were married just five weeks ago.

It was a long final day for the field Sunday in England because rain delays plaqued play the first two days. Some golfers had as many as 30 holes to play.

Dean was eight shots behind when he started the day, but only seven shots behind when the final round started. He quickly birdied four of the first six holes to jump into contention then made five more on the back, including on four of the last six holes. When he birdied the par-4 18th hole he didn’t know that he had won because there was still much golf left to be played behind him.

However, no one else could must any sort of charge. Dean’s 63 was the lowest score of the day by three shots, with Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren shooting 66 to jump into a ninth-place tie. Jacob Skov Olesen, Niklas Norgaard, Nacho Elvira and Daniel Hillier all tied for second place at 11-under total, three behind Dean.

"Today was one of the rare days where everything just felt right and the putts were dropping," said Dean. "Almost like I couldn't do anything wrong. We saw a glimpse of that over the past two, three months, but it kind of faded by back nine or it faded after a few holes. To finally get through the entire round and feel good about it is really nice."

Dean no longer will have to deliver groceries to make ends meet, it seems. But it wasn’t that long ago to where he doesn’t remember those important times. He still sees his former co-workers now and again and contends that he enjoyed those four years that he lived a different life.

Now he’s married, has a tour card and a victory to go along with it—all in his native England no less.

"I can't thank Emily enough for what she has to put up with with me,”Dean said. “It was bad enough off the course and the lows and stuff like that, but now on the course and off the course.

"I hope I made her proud. I don't know. I'm at a loss for words. I think we're both just really happy and a bit rabbit in the headlights at the minute."