“They were just an absolute wreck for me on that last day, so I sent them a message in the morning and said ‘look, I’ve had a good sleep, I’m ready to go and feeling fine’.
“This is a story that I brought upon myself. I genuinely think there are lots of other stories that people have gone through that are more heartache and misery not from their own doing.
“I don’t want to be that guy that takes all this media attention as such from doing upon myself.
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“There are lots of other guys who deserve it just as much and probably even more.”
Peake was good enough as a junior to represent Australia on the international stage, including the 2010 World Teams Championship in Japan.
He was also in the Australian team alongside future major winner Cam Smith who beat a New Zealand side that included Lydia Ko in the 2010 Trans-Tasman Cup in Wellington.
Australia’s Ryan Peake celebrates his NZ Open triumph. Photo / Photosport
But his life took a sharp turn and Peake only dabbled with golf while in the Rebels gang.
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“I’d pretty much given it away,” he said.
“I knew at that point I wasn’t going to be a professional golfer, it wasn’t my career. I had other things I was looking into.
“I might have gone out now and then to show my face, maybe fake my way through so people thought I was doing what I was doing. I pretty much put the clubs down for two years.”
The New Zealand Open victory may open a few doors, although he isn’t getting carried away.
“Some opportunities have popped up in the last few hours, but New Zealand as a country, I love this place and don’t want to leave it just yet,” he said.
“I’d love to stay another week and just enjoy it. It’s such an amazing country.
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“I don’t feel like I’ve made it, that this is it. I’m making small steps back to where – if my life hadn’t gone astray – I should be. There’s bigger and better to achieve, but it’s nice to be stepping in the right direction.”
