Ryan Peake woke up on Sunday hoping to play the round of a lifetime at the New Zealand Open. The 31-year-old West Australian badly wanted badly to win the 104th edition of the event, secure a spot the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush and move within striking distance of a DP World Tour card.
Facing a four-shot deficit, Peake took a call from his friend, PGA Tour star Min Woo Lee, and their mutual swing coach, Ritchie Smith, before the round at the Millbrook Resort in Queenstown.
“[Lee and Smith] basically said that I’d already won, because I wasn’t in this position four years ago,” Peake said after reeling in rising Korean star, and overnight leader, Guntaek Koh to win the New Zealand Open by one shot.
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Four years ago, Peake was picking up the pieces of his golf career after serving time in prison. Once a prodigious golf talent while growing up in Western Australia, big-hitting Peake once teamed up with future Open champion Cameron Smith to win the boys’ division of the Trans-Tasman Cup as 17-year-olds in 2010.
But as Peake entered his 20s, he fell out of golf. He became a member of the Rebels bikie gang and, shortly after his 21st birthday, received a five-year prison sentence for assault in 2014.
While in jail, Peake was contacted by the acclaimed golf coach Smith – the long-time guru for Lee – as well as his sister, Minjee, fellow LPGA major champion, Hannah Green, and DP World Tour winner, Elvis Smylie. Smith encouraged Peake to pick up the clubs after his release.
Peake threw himself into golf and began to claw back flashes of the game he knew was still there. He gained a full card on the PGA Tour of Australasia for the first time in 2024-2025.
Prior to Sunday’s final round in Queenstown, on New Zealand’s South Island, Peake had never played in the final group at a professional tournament. The tall, rugged Peake began chasing down Koh with four birdies in the opening 12 holes to join him in the lead.
Koh made three straight bogeys from the 13th and when Peake birdied the par-5 17th, he took a one-shot lead into the par-3 18th. But the heavily tattooed Peake missed the green and overcooked his pitch shot. He faced a nervy, uphill par putt of eight feet to win. Peake had played the previous 54 holes bogey-free and couldn’t afford a dropped shot on the 72nd hole.
Peake with the New Zealand Open trophy. [Photo: Hannah Peters]
He rammed the putt home and let out a primal roar, knowing what his five-under 66 meant for his career and his life. Aside from finishing at 23-under-par and becoming the first left-hander to win the New Zealand Open since major winner Sir Bob Charles (1973), Peake’s journey back from the doldrums was complete.
“I’ve just changed my life,” Peake said as he choked back tears post-round. “This is what I do. I want to be here and just play golf. [My] story is what it is, but I’m just out here playing golf.”
One shot back of Peake, sharing second place at 22-under, was fellow Australian Jack Thompson (63), Japan’s Kazuki Higa (66) and South African Ian Snyman (66).
Peake was showered with champagne by friends and fellow pros after securing $NZ360,000 that catapulted him to second on the Australasian tour’s order of merit. The top three finishers when the season ends at the end of March secure cards on the DP World Tour for the following season.
“It’s life changing; this morning I woke up four shots behind… now I’m a member of the Asian Tour, an [Australasian] tour winner, second on the [Australasian] order of merit and chasing down a European tour card,” Peake said. “[A lot] has changed.”
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Peake was asked to reflect on his journey back to pro golf from incarceration.
“It’s probably something I’ll reflect a little after,” he said. “Subconsciously, I’m obviously proud of myself, proud for the things that I’m doing for my family and my friends. But I’m also proud of where I’ve come from as well. I’ve still got lots of friends, love and support. I can change my actions, but I still am who I am.”
Peake has three tournaments left on the schedule to cement his status atop the Australasian order of merit. After that, his focus will turn to the Open Championship when it returns to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland for the first time since Irishman Shane Lowry emerged from horrible final round weather to win his first major.
Peake said he hoped the weather was similarly as tough in July at Portrush. After all, he’s just happy to be playing golf. What’s a little rain and wind during your major championship debut?
“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.”
