SINGAPORE – It was just over a year ago that Joe Dean was working evening shifts as a delivery driver for British supermarket chain Morrisons – three to four times weekly – while ranked 2,902nd in the world golf rankings.

The Englishman, who turned professional in 2016, took up the job during the Covid-19 pandemic when the golf tours went into a standstill.

Even though he now plays on the DP World Tour, the 30-year-old still carries lessons with him from his time as a delivery worker.

Dean said: “It definitely keeps you humble and down to earth and it does put things into perspective.

“Doing that for three years put things into perspective and makes you realise how fortunate we are to travel the world and basically hit a little round ball around the field for five, six hours a day.”

He is in town for the Porsche Singapore Classic, which is taking place at Laguna National Golf Resort Club from March 20 to 23. Despite shooting a three-under 69 in the second round on March 22, he missed the cut, placing joint-113rd with a five-over 149 total.

While Dean treasures his experiences as a professional golfer, getting his DP World Tour card in 2023 was initially met with both happiness and fear.

Playing on the European circuit meant more travelling, which was something he has struggled with since experiencing a traumatic incident over a decade ago.

In 2014, while he was at an England training camp in Portugal, his family dog of 16 years had to be put to sleep. That inadvertently “created some sort of separation anxiety with travelling”, Dean said in a Player Blog article on the Tour’s website.

Although he was previously on the PGA EuroPro and Challenge Tours, he mainly competed in one- or two-day events.

But he has grown more comfortable with travelling, thanks to an unexpected solution: hypnotherapy.

Winning the Order of Merit on the 2020 Protour in 2023 earned him 12 free sessions with hypnotherapist Darren Hirst, which turned out to be a game-changer.

He said: “It just all started to align strangely. I went and saw Darren Hirst and probably eight to 10 sessions later, I was fine with travelling.

“Don’t me get wrong, I didn’t enjoy it, but I was at a stage where I could cope with travelling.”

It also helped that his fiance Emily Lyle was able to travel with him, which made being away from home easier.

In his rookie season in 2024, he notched five top-10 finishes – including two run...