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THOMPSONVILLE, Mich. - Crystal Mountain Director of Golf Brad Dean is about to realize a lifelong dream as he plays in the 90th PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club. Brad will open the Championship by hitting the first ball off of the first tee at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday morning with Briny Baird and Alastair Forsyth.
Dean qualified for his first major championship, which just happens to be his first PGA Tour event, with a fifteenth place finish at the PGA Club Professionals National Championship at Reynolds Plantation in late-June. The 42-year-old has played in the Club Professionals National Championship five times, exceptional considering most of his time is spent managing Crystal Mountain's two championship courses, retail operations, and an award-winning golf school.
For a nationally recognized instructor who has taken Crystal Mountain Golf Schools from infancy to among the Top 25 Golf Schools in the Nation as ranked by Golf Magazine, this has been a busy summer at work and home. Monday July 28, he and wife Kendra welcomed their fourth child, Brandon Matthew, into the family. Meanwhile, he's had to mix tournament prep with running golf operations and Crystal's Junior Elite program that's produced three Michigan Amateur Champions since 2002.
Family and longtime friends and colleagues have joined Brad in not only celebrating this accomplishment but preparing for the tournament as well. Fellow Crystal Mountain Instructor Adam Schriber, who also works with two-time PGA Tour winner Anthony Kim, has been spending time with Dean on the range. Longtime student and 2002 Michigan Amateur Champion Korey Mahoney will caddy for him during the championship. Lin Buck of Callaway, who has worked with Brad since 1989, will make sure he has the essential tools to tame the course that Ben Hogan dubbed, "The Monster."
Brad Dean and Adam Schriber are scheduled to begin the week with a junior clinic at the PGA Learning Center at Oakland Hills, Monday, August 4. Dean has practice rounds planned Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before the tournament officially begins Thursday morning.
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