THE 154TH OPEN

July 13, 2026

Joe Dean

Quick Quotes

Q. What's your first memory of The Open as a kid watching?

JOE DEAN: I think it was Tiger holing out at Hoylake, was it? I can't remember what year it was. I think he had a 6-iron or something from the fairway and just dumped it. That was probably it.

Q. Where would you have been when you were watching that, like little Joe getting excited watching that?

JOE DEAN: I don't know. Probably sat in the living room with a putter or something with a few balls.

Q. I think I heard, did you go to Troon in a motor home?

JOE DEAN: Yeah, it was actually quite funny because the caravan park we stayed in was called Dean Park or something like that. It was probably, I think we had three -- two or three caravans, and we were fine.

Q. This was a couple years ago?

JOE DEAN: '24.

Q. So that was like two caravans full of family and friends, was it?

JOE DEAN: Basically, yeah.

Q. Are you imagining a similar sort of thing?

JOE DEAN: Potentially. Last time we was here in '17, although the family was in -- I don't know if it's still here or not, Pontins?

Q. Yes, they shut it.

JOE DEAN: Oh, they shut it. I got some good videos sent from family and friends.

Q. What did you make of today just as a new experience?

JOE DEAN: Yeah, it was great. Any opportunity to get in The Open again, I'll glady turn up and play. One-day events, I seem to play better. I don't quite know why, the mentality of trying to keep the same throughout any round and every round.

For some reason, I don't know if it's having to do one-day events for -- when was it, back in '21 to '23 -- yeah, '23. I don't know if I got used to it a bit more and it was sort of just a one-round shootout. Yeah, just enjoying it a lot more.

Q. What do you remember from your performance here in '17?

JOE DEAN: Not too much. It was very scrappy. We were losing daylight on the Friday. I think we had awful weather, but I managed to grit down, and I think I made the cut by two maybe.

Obviously the course has changed a little bit. The 14, which used to be the par-3, now 16, is it, that's been introduced as the par-3.

Q. 15.

JOE DEAN: 15, sorry. Yeah, 15. I think both of them were great holes, the new one and the old one. Yeah, 15's probably a little bit more difficult, but they're both great holes.

Q. What did you think of that eagle today?

JOE DEAN: Yeah, it was really good. I was watching the scoreboard all around, like Wilson and Potgieter or something else? Yeah, I saw their names hovering at 1-under and level and 1-under.

Yeah, just hit a really good drive down the middle, had 250 to the flag straight down wind and just probably hit the best 6-iron I've ever hit.

Fortunately, wind caught it and it bounced pretty good. We didn't hear anything from the grandstands, but I don't know if we were too far away to hear anything. It might have been front edge or back edge. If i had to guess, it's 3 1/2, 4 feet. Yeah, it was nice to see.

Q. Who's on your bag?

JOE DEAN: Emily, my fiancee.

Q. Are you getting married the week after The Open?

JOE DEAN: Next Tuesday, yeah, we're getting married.

Q. The Tuesday after?

JOE DEAN: Yeah, it was cheaper (laughter).

Q. When was the last time you delivered groceries?

JOE DEAN: I think maybe January '24. I had a great time doing it. Met some really good friends and grounded me really well. My coach keeps saying to me, don't let the game define you, and obviously it's not your typical 9:00 to 5:00 job. It is a lifestyle. It's hard to get out of that lifestyle.

I think I've just had two weeks off at home. It's been really difficult to switch off and to try and relax in this.

So I need to work on that a bit better and put all the things in place to keep my mind occupied. Yeah, obviously it's a great opportunity to be able to play golf for a living, and I'm really thankful for it.

Q. How long were you delivering for?

JOE DEAN: When did COVID start?

Was it March 2020?

Q. Yeah.

JOE DEAN: So Emily took me down to the supermarket. She enrolled me within a week or two. Yeah, I probably did it for, what, three years, three and a bit years. Well, probably -- sorry, four years. It was great. I never regret doing it.

Q. You did that because you couldn't afford the travel costs? Is that it?

JOE DEAN: Not necessarily, no. I was playing just one-day events, a lot of mini tours. I got to the point where Tour School was starting to get out of reach with the cost it was getting to.

Fortunately, I had some really good friends around me, Max who used to caddie for me, his parents knew some very good people and our friends, and they said to me, do you want to try Tour School in November 2023? I was like, why not? I have nothing to lose.

I got through every stage and got a card and struggled for money.

So up until January '24, got a bit of money together, a few sponsors, and then, yeah, played really well in Kenya; came tied third. I never looked back after that.

Q. I know you just missed out at West Linton. How long after that did you realize you were going to get this chance?

JOE DEAN: I can't remember the official's name, but he pretty much came up to me straight away after the playoff had finished and said that basically there's been no other playoffs at any other venues, and I can pretty much guarantee you'll be in the last chance qualifying. So pretty much straight away.

Q. From a logistical part for you this week, have you already have things in place? Do you know where you're staying? Have you thought that far ahead?

JOE DEAN: No, you've got a big enough house.

Q. Are you going to be finding a place to stay this week?

JOE DEAN: Surely you've got a big enough garden.

Q. How happy are you to be playing The Open Championship (laughter)?

JOE DEAN: Just happy to see you.

Q. Did the crowd seem quite engaged with this new qualifier today?

JOE DEAN: Yeah, it was great. From what I can remember in Troon, Monday, Tuesday is a bit quiet and then everything obviously kicks off Thursday, Friday, and it just amplifies.

Yeah, to see the amount of people out here today, it's been great. I think it's definitely -- we stopped at a local Premier Inn, and we had a few people asked if we were playing in the qualifier today, which obviously you don't usually get. Yeah, I think it has drawn a lot more people.

Q. Was it your family members wearing the Dolly Parton shirts?

JOE DEAN: Probably friends. Yeah, I missed that one.

Q. When did that start?

JOE DEAN: When did that start? Probably British Masters in '24. Yeah, there were a few choice T-shirts lying around and some stickers on cars and stuff like that.

No, it's all great. It's all in great fun and great spirits. As long as there's not any mug shots or anything, then we're all right.

Q. Is Emily always on your bag? What's that dynamic like to have her there?

JOE DEAN: Emily used to be on my bag when I first turned pro, 2016. It is a very hard dynamic. It's not -- even when things are going well out there, it's still not a nice walk in the park. It's very stressful. It's demanding.

I will say that the good thing is I'm self-sustainable. So I have the yardage book. I just literally need Em to carry the bag in, probably just to talk rubbish too. Emily's been on the bag for three or four weeks maybe. KLM, she started back on the bag.

I had a good friend on the bag before. Again, he's just people. So you spend enough time with each other, you bounce against each other. It's nothing. We got to the fact where we'd rather stay friends than ruin a relationship over golf. Me and Max, we're still good friends, and we're still keeping in touch in that.

Yeah, Emily, she used to play county golf herself, so she's a good player. She knows what she's doing. Obviously, she knows me pretty well, which always helps.

Q. A bit of stress on 17 when that tee shot went into that big mound on top there?

JOE DEAN: I think the stress started long before that. The stress started -- aside from the eagle, the stress started on the 13th, poor tee shot. Even worse second shot. I think I whiffed the third shot and then managed to hit it 10 feet to the hole for a bogey.

Like I said, it's such an odd thing, and there's so many variables. It only takes one bounce or one bit of wind to ruin your day. I'm not the best at keeping in my own head. So I'm sticking to processes, and when things are going bad, it's even harder.

Just things to work on, as I'm pretty sure everyone does. Yeah, just a very demanding golf course.

Q. Were you in the (indiscernible)?

JOE DEAN: I was over the spectator walkway, and it was sort of -- the ball was probably a foot and a half below my feet, banking, going away. The ball was probably six inches above the actual ground.

It was basically hack and hope. Yeah, there was more hope than hack. I think I went about three foot to the right.

Q. Do you have accommodations this week? Sorry, I didn't hear that exchange.

JOE DEAN: No, I don't. I'm sleeping in my car at the moment. Hopefully I've got a couple of friends that are around the area. There will be something. I think R&A reserve rooms in the hotel. Hopefully there's air conditioning as well. We'll see.

Q. Can you give some context to how firm the course is at the moment? And the forecast this week.

JOE DEAN: I think we had an e-mail this morning to say it was 0.01 firmer than yesterday, but it felt a helluva lot firmer than yesterday, and we played later on than yesterday.

Yeah, you're talking hitting 54, 50 degree wedges. You've got to be landing 10 yards short of the flag, and that's if you're getting quite a bit of spin.

I haven't looked at the forecast. I'm guessing it's good for the rest of the week. I was surprised to see the runoff areas were still quite long, the grass. Usually you can putt them fine. It's obviously just nearly putting off the green, but not today. I'm guessing it's to stop it from drying out too much. Just a 5-iron chip and runs and seems to do the trick.