Trophy in hand and having just slipped on the winner’s Māori cloak courtesy of his one-shot victory Sunday at the New Zealand Open, 31-year-old Ryan Peake offered a few words of immediate reflection.
“I’ve just changed my life,” Peake said.
In Peake’s case, it wasn’t the least bit hyperbolic.
Before Peake rallied from four shots down with a closing 66 at Queenstown’s Millbrook Resort to hold off a trio of challengers for his maiden world-ranked title (and an Open Championship berth), the sleeve-tattooed Australian had completed a much greater comeback. A promising amateur and contemporary of a young Cameron Smith, Peake was also a member of an outlaw motorcycle club called the Rebels, and in 2014, he was convicted of assault and sentenced to seven years in prison.
But with the help of instructor Ritchie Smith, Peake didn’t let his incarceration destroy his golf career.
About a year before his early release in 2019, Peake was contacted by Ritchie, who was determined to revive Peake’s life inside the ropes. Ritchie has been quoted as saying that Peake, who first played the Australian Open in 2010 at age 17, was every bit as good as the Open-champion Smith was as a teenager.
“But my head wasn’t exactly screwed on like his was,” Peake said in a 2013 episode of the Tee It Up Golf Podcast.
Peake, somewhat of a loner in the sport, had turned pro at 19 years old and quickly fell into some dangerous habits, including drinking and partying. Burned out by golf, he joined the Rebels, his “new belonging,” as he describes it. The Rebels, at their peak, were Australia’s largest biker club, and shortly before Peake’s arrest, the Australian government had designated the group a criminal organization as part of a law passed in 2013 (the act was repealed three years later).
“I knew it was coming one day,” Peake said of prison. “I was running a bit amuck, and I was a bit of a loose cannon. … I had given up on life a little bit.”
But in speaking to the specific incident, he says, “I’ll do anything for my mates.”
Under Ritchie’s guidance, Peake began stretching in his cell and doing golf-specific training while still behind bars. Then, as part of the minimum-security prison’s reintegration program, Peake earned temporary releases, where he’d go hit balls at Lakelands Country Club just north of Perth. In his final few weeks before regaining his freedom, Peake won a tournament at Lakelands, though his 72-hour allowance had nearly expired, so he left before the trophy presentation, saying, “Enjoy your night, boys. I’m going back to prison.”
Upon his permanent release in 2019, Peake left the Rebels and dove back into pro golf. He grinded in pro-ams, qualifying tournaments and spot-starts on the PGA Tour of Australasia for a few years before officially earning full membership on Australia’s main tour for the 2024-25 season.
Peake was delayed in arriving at Millbrook earlier this week after being flagged because of his criminal record by New Zealand immigration officials. He didn’t get on site until Tuesday, then turned in a dazzling display that included playing his last 55 holes without a bogey. His 8-foot par make at the last allowed him to edge runners-up Jack Thompson, Kazuki Higa and Ian Snyman, while snagging an exemption into this summer’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush via the Open Qualifying Series.
It’s expected that he’ll need special clearance to enter Northern Ireland and compete this July.
“I always knew I could do it; it was just a matter of time of when I was going to do it,” Peake said. “[DP World Tour player] Elvis Smylie was in the same predicament not too long ago and our coach, Ritchie Smith, said it was going to switch and that you’ve just got to commit to it. He had the same chat with me when I missed the cut at the Aussie Open and the Aussie PGA.
“We set out some goals of how we wanted to finish off the rest of the year and along with my family, my team, everyone believed.
“But most of all, I believed as well.”
