But never in his wildest dreams could he have prophesised the sensational start he made to his round as he racked up four threes in a row.
The first was an eagle at the 502-yard opening hole, winging a rescue club approach to a foot of the flag.
Next, after his drive had split the middle of the fairway, he floated an eight iron to 12 feet for a birdie before safely making his par at the short third.
And just when he thought he had put enough space between himself and his challengers, he holed another two yarder for birdie at the fourth.
"I could not believe it," said the 26-year-old professional attached to Upton-by-Chester.
"I told myself I had to make a score on the front nine because the second stretch was going to be tough in the wind, but I did not envisage such a cracking start."
Bogey
He was brought down to earth at the fifth, where he drove into water and escaped with a bogey.
He reached the turn without any further lapses, but his one-shot lead over Adrian Ambler was stretched to three when the Yorkshireman was penalised two strokes at the ninth.
His caddie had raked the greenside bunker before Ambler had played the ball which is a breach of the rules.
It was an unexpected cushion for Bean and although Ambler fought back well the damage had been done.
With the hardest holes still to play, Bean kept his composure with the help of his caddie-girlfriend Lesley Allason, a psychiatric nurse.
"She kept telling me to relax and concentrate on one shot at a time," he said.
The advice helped at the 12th where he overshot the green but conjured a magical lob-wedge to five feet to save par.
He dropped a stroke at the next, but his shot of the day was at the 229-yard 16th when his trusty rescue club flighted the ball to 12 feet for par.
The penultimate hole has invariably been critical over the four years the tournament has been running, but Bean was unperturbed by his bogey knowing he had reached the 18th with a stroke in hand over Haigh Hall's Craig Corrigan, the recently crowned De Vere Hotels PGA North Region champion.
With his second shot nestling in the fringe at the back of the green, he coolly pitched to a foot for another birdie and a 71, three-under-par in total.
Corrigan closed with a 69, the best score of the day matched by Styal's England star David Horsey, the leading amateur for the second year running who tied third with Ambler and John Wells, from Beverley and East Riding.
FINAL LEADERBOARD: 213 R Bean (Upton by Chester) 70,72,71; 215 C Corrigan (Haigh Hall) 72,74,69; 216 *D Horsey (Styal) 76,71,69, J Wells (Beverley & East Riding) 72,73,71, A Ambler (Walton Golf Centre) 70,73, 73; 217 C Goodfellow (Eden) 72,73,72, S Edwards (Clays) 73,72,72, B Taylor (Houghwood) 70,74,73; 218 J Graham (Silloth-on-Solway) 76,72,70, M Sheppard (Fore Golf) 76,71,71, J Cheetham (Mobberley) 75,72,71, D Astin (Halifax West End) 73,71,74.
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