With impeccable timing, a former Morrisons delivery driver has qualified for the Open Championship at the 11th hour.Joe Dean, who spent four years ferrying groceries until his golfing breakthrough in 2024, made it into the oldest major via the R&A’s new last-chance shootout at Royal Birkdale on Monday.The 32-year-old from Sheffield won the 12-man, 18-hole showdown to claim the last place in the field. His next challenge will be finding a place to stay in Southport.’I’m sleeping in my car at the moment,’ he joked. ‘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.’Dean’s story is a quirky one. Having endured the financial grind familiar to most young pro golfers, he funded his career with part-time work at Morrisons supermarket. It was only after he landed a £170,000 cheque for finishing second at the Kenya Open in 2024 that he was able to fully commit to his sport. Joe Dean, a former Morrisons delivery driver, has qualified for the Open Championship Fitzpatrick fears gamblers could influence The Open Matt Fitzpatrick fears that gamblers will seek to influence golf tournaments by heckling players on the course.At a point when the sport is urgently seeking to get galleries back under control after unsavoury scenes at the Ryder Cup and last month’s US Open, Fitzpatrick has identified how the gambling industry could be part of the issue.The Englishman, who is among the favourites at The Open this week, said: ‘For me, it’s definitely becoming a problem and the issue is, particularly in golf, it would be very easy to influence a bet, whether it’s you’re shouting on someone’s backswing, shouting on a putting stroke.’It’s really easy. Obviously that is hard to monitor, but it is definitely an issue.’Commenting more generally on gambling-related abuse in golf, which has recently surfaced as a talking point in the sport, Fitzpatrick added: ‘Just look at all the messages people get — footballers, tennis players, you name it, everyone’s getting messages of, ‘Oh, you missed that penalty; you cost me this. Oh, you didn’t make a birdie; cost me this’.’I’ve had my fair share. I would say every golfer that’s played a professional tournament has had a message of abuse from someone that is related to gambling. I mean, you could see it this week.’You go and type in a player’s name who maybe isn’t playing well, maybe someone who’s favoured to play well, and you’ll just see their name followed by abuse after abuse after abuse.’It’s difficult because I’ve had 20 quid on England to win the World Cup, but at the same time, if it doesn’t come in, I’m not going to send a message to Harry Kane and be like, ‘Why did you play rubbish?’ There’s obviously individuals that have that problem.’By Riath Al-Samarrai <!- – ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/us/sport/golf/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 – ->
He went on to reach the Open at Troon that year and comfortably made the cut.Detailing his previous sideline, which commenced during Covid, he said: ‘I had a great time doing it. I met some really good friends and it grounded me really well. My coach keeps saying to me, ‘Don’t let the game define you’.’It was great. I never regret doing it.’He added: ‘I played really well in Kenya and I never looked back after that.’Dean’s qualification was achieved with his fiancé Emily on his bag. In what promises to be a hectic schedule, they are getting married on the Tuesday after the Open concludes.