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Ryan Peake will be semanding Royal Portrush on Thursday, and how he had this opportunity is different from anyone in the field.
This is because the Australian Golfer won New Zealand Open five years after spending half a decade in prison.
Peake was a talented junior golfer who became a professional at the age of 19. But, according to the BBC, Peake was “exhausted” from the game and joined the Rebels, a prohibited motorcycle gang, two years after having become pro.
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Ryan Peake of Australia famous with the open trophy of New Zealand after winning the New Zealand 2025 open at Millbrook Resort on March 2, 2025 in Queenstown, New Zealand. (Hannah Peters / Getty Images)
“I was just normalized,” said Peake, now 31 years old, about joining the biker gang. “It was not abnormal where I came from to spend time in this kind of scene with my friends.
“It is something in which I found love and I appreciated that. I was interested, and I just found something there that I had the impression of having found anywhere else.”
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Peake was a “bicycle”, but being part of an outlaw lifestyle means the risk of serving a prison sentence, which happened after having attacked someone who, according to him, “threatened towards us”.
“We just went to face it, and honestly, it shouldn’t happen like that,” said Peake, according to the BBC. “We generally went there to chat, and he was probably going to get a few punches along the way, and he was left.”
Peake landed in a maximum correctional security establishment, and this is where he decided that he “wanted to do better things”.
Former winner of the Open Baker-Finch Open Championship congratulates Ryan Peake of Australia after winning New Zealand Open in 2025 qualifying it for the next Championship open to Millbrook Resort on March 2, 2025 in Queenstown, New Zealand. (Hannah Peters / Getty Images)
“I did not take advantage of a bicycle,” said Peak. “I enjoyed the lifestyle while I was living it, but that was not going to move me forward in life, and I was always going to fall more and more behind and probably lead to more prison.”
Peake was a teammate of 2022 Golfer champion of the year Cameron Smith at the time of his conviction.
But he returned to golf after prison, and the left -hander began to put his career on the right track. Thank you with the help of coach Richie Smith, as well as the support of his family, Peake received his Australasian tour card this season and won his first professional victory at The New Zealand Open.
In turn, Peake got a place in the open championship of this year.
Ryan Peake of Australia famous after winning New Zealand 2025 open at Millbrook Resort on March 2, 2025 in Queenstown, New Zealand. (Hannah Peters / Getty Images)
He will tire with Phil Mickelson and Daniel Van Tonder at 2:17 a.m. Thursday to start his tournament.
