NZ Open champion Ryan Peake has gone from being a banged-up gang member to a man with the golf world at his feet.
Ryan Peake was once a highly-rated junior golfer who represented Australia internationally as a teen.
He joined the outlawed Rebels motorbike gang and was later jailed for five years for a violent assault.
Last weekend the 31-year-old won the NZ Open, winning more than $300,000 and gaining entry to prestigious tournaments.
Aussie golfer Ryan Peake’s six-figure payday in the New Zealand Open came about four years after being released from prison. Neil Reid spent a day on the course with him, before the champion shared his redemption story.
His talent was so good that he lined up in the Australian Open – which has a top prize of $320,000 – aged just 17.
Not long afterwards, Peake swapped chasing his golfing dream for life in the outlawed Rebels motorcycle gang; ditching his best golfing gear for a patch in the notorious gang.
Then, just four years after proudly wearing his country’s colours in Japan, Peake’s world caved in; with the former golfing prodigy jailed for his role in a brutal assault on a man who Rebels members believed had threatened their club.
Peake – who pocketed $335,000 after winning the 104th New Zealand Open at Millbrook on Sunday – doesn’t shy away from his actions, contributing to the man’s serious injuries.
In an incredible story of making the most of a second shot at life, Peake would reignite his love from golf behind bars and ultimately quit the Rebels and gang life.
Australia’s Ryan Peake celebrates his NZ Open triumph. Photo / Photosport
Four days on from his NZ Open success, and about 10 minutes after finishing the opening round of the Wallace Development New Zealand PGA Championship at the Hastings Golf Club, Peake told the Herald how memories of what he has come through came flooding back as he celebrated his Millbrook triumph.
“A few of the close golfers that I’ve grown up with, we all went out that night,” Peake said.
“Aaron Wilkin . . . I grew up playing with and was in the Australian junior team with him as well, came back and stayed at my Airbnb and we were reminiscing.
“It wasn’t that long ago I was sleeping on his back lawn in a caravan, playing some Pro-Ams over there. We were FaceTiming his parents, it was just a pretty cool, surreal moment.”
His own parents were also at the forefront of his mind, saying: “There’s just so much pain and grief and happiness and misery and every emotion you can think of I’ve put them through”.
Australian golfer Ryan Peake - and former criminal - at Hastings Golf Club just days after winning the 104th New Zealand Open in Queenstown. Photo / Neil Reid
Sunday’s victory in the New Zealand Open is worth much more to Peake than the $335,000 winner’s cheque.
Potentially more valuable are the doors that have now been opened to him to play even more lucrative tournaments.
The tournament has a $29m prize pool. And even if Peake failed to make the cut after the opening two rounds, and was to finish last, he would pocket $15,700 for two days work.
He has also secured his spot on the Asian and Australian Tours for the next two years.
Australian golfer Ryan Peake wants to see how far he can go now his pro dream has been rekindled. Photo / Neil Reid
Ranking points secured in Millbrook also look to have secured Peake playing rights on the highly lucrative DP World Tour.
The life-changing turnaround had its beginnings when Peake realised in the confines of a prison cell across the Tasman that he had let people down.
He wrote a heartfelt letter to renowned Australian golf coach Ritchie Smith, who agreed to help him while Peake was still banged up.
Peake – who at one stage had put on 40kg – was put on a special physical training programme prepared by a Western Australian sports physio.
Outlawed in Australia, the Rebels have since set up chapters in New Zealand. Photo / NZ Police
Prison authorities also allowed Peake to practice at local driving ranges, and also compete in some tournaments, while on day-leave when he was nearing the end of his custodial sentence.
He quit the Rebels, telling The Western Australian last year of that conversation with gang leaders: “As soon as I told them, they said I should go for it”.
Peake would eventually return to the ranks of professional golf in 2022, eight years after his role in the brutal assault.
Talking to the Herald, he said he knew his backstory was newsworthy, but he was also aware that so many other players chasing a golf career either had or were trying to, overcome their own challenges.
“Unfortunately, my story is very different,” Peake said.
Ryan Peake checks out the lie of the land before teeing off at Hastings Golf Club. Photo / Neil Reid
“I think the quicker that calms down as well [the better] because there’s lots of other guys out here that have a story as well. And it’s not essentially from them making a mistake throughout their life.
“So, I try to keep it quite humble in that sense as well, that I don’t want to override their stuff.”
Given his previous conviction and links to the Rebels, Peake had needed approval to enter New Zealand. The period it took for that to come through saw him arrive in Queenstown later than his rivals for the NZ Open.
The Wallace Development New Zealand PGA Championship – which finishes today – sees Peake and 98 other golfers in action.
And it’s a world away from the glitz and glamour of top-level golf depicted by the hit Netflix show Full Swing, which takes viewers behind the US PGA tour.
‘It’s a second chance . . . my life is golf now’
Whoever is crowned winner on Sunday afternoon will secure ranking points and a prize of about $20,000.
It’s a field featuring youngsters chasing a dream and a multitude of older players seeking what could be a final shot at going full-time.
There are no fancy hotels, with many players sharing rooms in motels or being billeted out amongst the local golf community.
The reality of life for golfers trying to become the few who can make it professionally is a world away from the trappings of Netflix's hit show, Full Swing. Photo / Neil Reid
“I know exactly what it’s like for every other guy out here this week,” Peake said of the reality of trying to crack it.
“Some of us just aren’t gonna get those chances as well. It’s gruelling out here, it’s changed for me for the best, but it’s just so gruelling . . . it’s just a very tough gig out here.”
But he added: “It’s what we sign up for and it’s what you gotta push through and try and finish off”.
Peake secured the NZ Open with a pressure eight-foot (2.4m) putt on the 18th and final hole of his fourth round at Millbrook.
While the financial stakes in Hawke’s Bay were less than the previous weekend, it was also a good test for him mentally.
Ryan Peake says what he has endured via decisions he made earlier in his life have shaped him into who he is. Photo / Neil Reid
“I’m trying to use this week as a little bit of experience that I don’t have, how to kind of celebrate your wins, but then also how to switch off from that as well and try and get back into the next tournament within a few days.”
Also missing was the several thousand fans who cheered him on, and the TV cameras which captured Peake’s dramatic final hole triumph.
The crowd that watched Peake’s putt drop in the hole was loud in their applause. But not even it could deafen the roar of elation the 31-year-old Aussie golfer unleashed on the 18th green.
When the Herald followed Peake around the fairways of Hastings Golf Club for his opening round on Thursday, a group of seven sports fans made up the viewing gallery; several thousand fewer than on Sunday.
Peake was well aware of the crowd support he received during the NZ Open.
“I would have really enjoyed it if I had a few 1000 people out here watching me today to give me a little bit more energy to get around,” he said.
“I’m still very fatigued. Obviously, it is different rocking up when you don’t have all the gallery ropes and things like that, but, like I said, we’re out here playing for points as well and that’s just what it is.”
Ryan Peake - preparing to putt at Hastings Golf Club - is now working through his next career steps after a life-changing win. Photo / Neil Reid
Having been such a highly-rated youngster, and then almost losing his sporting dream altogether, Peake proudly said “my life is golf now”.
“It pretty much revolves around it when the tournament weeks are on.”
Victory in the NZ Open saw Peake’s name added to the famous sporting trophy alongside Sir Bob Charles, Michael Campbell, Greg Turner, Corey Pavin, Ian Baker-Finch and Kel Nagle. It was a tournament triumph that Peake says has “changed so much for me”.
“I’m still sitting down currently at the moment and going through all the options that we have,” he said.
Ryan Peake says he is determined to do all he can with his second shot at pro golf. Photo / Neil Reid
“My team . . . they’ll kind of suggest to me what our best options are, at the moment I’ll just . . . try and get back into the swing of things.”
Peake knows he’s not the first sportsperson to have a second shot at stardom despite being so close to losing it all.
And he knows he won’t be the last.
He is also a believer that if he hadn’t had to travel the tough road that he has, then he might not be as strong as he is mentally to cope with what is thrown at him on the golf course and in life.
“It’s a second chance . . . [but] you know, hindsight’s a wonderful thing,” he said.
“Would I have been in a better position than I am now without it? But also would I still be where I am as well [without it]?
“I take it for what it is. It’s my life and this is where I am.”
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 33 years of newsroom experience.
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