On Thursday, Australian golfer Ryan Peake will step onto the first tee at Royal Portrush to tee off at The Open Championship, four months after he stunned the golf world.
Draining a ten-foot par putt at the last hole to seal a one-shot triumph in March’s New Zealand Open — he avoided a four-person playoff with a five-under par final round of 66 after starting the day four shots off the lead — is very impressive.
So too was earning a major debut at The Open.
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But Peake’s incredible journey to reach this life-changing moment is entirely unique. The 31-year-old was once one of Australia’s most talented amateur golfers, he even paired up with LIV star and 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith to win the boys section of the Trans-Tasman Cup in 2010.
But in 2014, the West Australian was found guilty of serious assault and sentenced to five years in prison.
Peake was a member of outlaw motorcycle gang The Rebels at the time, but after serving his time in jail, he has turned his life around with golf at the heart of his transformation.
The left-hander earned his card on the PGA Tour of Australasia for this season and now has a professional win under his belt.
Esteemed Perth-based coach Ritchie Smith, who boasts the Lee siblings, PGA Tour star Min Woo and two-time major champion Minjee, another major winner in Hannah Green and Australian PGA champion Elvis Smylie among his stable, works with Peake.
In fact, Smith contacted him while he was still in prison to ask him if he wanted to seriously give golf a crack.
Smith got in touch again before the New Zealand Open’s final round, and so too did Min Woo Lee, who also shared a video of Peake’s celebrations to his 644k Instagram followers, after playing the third round of the Cognizant Classic in Florida.
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The pair had a simple message.
“[Lee and Smith] basically said that I’d already won, because I wasn’t in this position four years ago,” Peake said.
The reminders of his past are almost constant.
Peake was unable to enter New Zealand until the Tuesday before the tournament, less than 48 hours before his first round tee time, because his criminal record required a travel clearance and its completion was delayed.
That paperwork was a necessity again when he travelled to the United Kingdom for his shot at winning the Claret Jug. He revealed this week he ultimately got in with some help from the fact that his father was born in England.
Dealing with such obstacles is just another layer that makes Peake’s tale all the more exceptional, and it has left people in awe.
Ryan Peake who will compete at The OpenSource: Getty Images
The PGA Tour posted about Peake’s win on their website after his New Zealand Open win, so too did LIV Golf.
News outlets across the globe like The Guardian, Sky Sports, the BBC, TalkSport, USA Today, The Sun, The Times, The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, CNN and ESPN all published various versions of the final day report. Even this week, a number of the same overseas publications have told his story.
Peake’s quote of “I’ve just changed my life” has been circulated widely, while Sports Illustrated called it “a comeback story for the ages”.
The NZ Open, which is a co-sanctioned event between the Asian Tour and the PGA Tour of Australasia, does not usually generate such attention.
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People would be forgiven for thinking the footage of former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting driving the green on a short par 4 and sinking an eagle putt – the tournament doubles as a pro-am – would have been the biggest talking point from the scenic Millbrook Resort and Country Club in Queenstown.
But Peake upstaged Ponting, and American website Barstool Sports absolutely adored coming across Peake’s story on their social media channels, describing it as ‘straight out of a movie’ in their article headline.
“Just a little Sons of Anarchy turned into a qualifier for The Open. Perfect. This is exactly what I want from qualifying events,” Barstool Sports’ Bobby Reagan wrote.
“I know we get a lot of the Justin Rose type stories from a year ago. Pro golfers who aged, fell off a bit, go through qualifying and then put together a ridiculous round. Now we have Cam Smith’s old friend coming out of jail, showing up late to the event because of security clearance and then winning the thing without a bogey.”
Fellow US outlet NBC Sports dived into the archives and resurfaced a 2023 interview with Peake on the Tee It Up Podcast, where he shed light on his golfing comeback.
“Under Ritchie’s guidance, Peake began stretching in his cell and doing golf-specific training while still behind bars,” NBC’s Brentley Romine.
“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”.”
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Playing at a major in Northern Ireland is a long way away from the days of those temporary releases, and Peake is confident that he can shine on the big stage. The windswept, and often rainy, links of Royal Portrush are one of the ultimate tests of the best golfers in the world, and Peake knows how to do it tough.
“I think the reason I love [watching The Open] because my style of golf is that I want it to be brutal conditions where I don’t have to shoot 30-under,” Peake said.
“Scrapping it around, I really enjoy that style of golf. Generally, The Open is real links [golf] and that’s how it’s played. I’m super pumped now, and The Open is starting to sink in.”
However he fares this week, one thing is certain is that Peake will have a new legion of fans cheering him on.
