Hayden Meikle: Hi Ryan. What are you up to at the moment?
Ryan Peake: Nothing, really. Just hanging out in Dubai. Then I'm going to Kenya. We played a couple of weeks ago in Bahrain and then played Doha last week. After Kenya, we've got two tournaments in South Africa. The first South African event is played at the same time as the New Zealand Open, so I’ve got to leave the DP Tour to go play New Zealand. I'm doing a few miles, that's for sure.
How's your form?
It's all right. There's plenty of good there. I missed a cut in Bahrain. I had a few things happen that week that weren’t ideal for me. But then I tied for 44th last week in Qatar. I'd missed my last four or five cuts, so to make the cut was kind of a relief. There is plenty of good that I'm trying to focus on.
Everyone says winning a big tournament is life-changing. How did your life change after winning the New Zealand Open?
Only months before winning the Open, I bought a Winnebago, basically. I drove the whole way around Australia playing pro-ams. My status was limited to that. Before I bought the Winnebago, I was working on the mines. I secured an Asian Tour card, and winning New Zealand just about secured me my DP card. Financially, you start to get approached more from sponsors. You accelerate from where I was — basically driving around playing pro-ams, where if you win, you're going to get $1600 — to securing a tour spot and playing for a minimum of $2million. It changes the direction of your life. I learnt pretty quickly that I skipped a couple of stages from the progression path I had mapped out. I went straight to a main tour and all of a sudden, I guess, it got me a little bit because now I'm in foreign countries, I'm at courses that I've never played before, but I'm also playing environments that I've never played before. I'm not adapted to it. There was just so much learning that I was trying to do as well, and I was probably beating myself up and not giving myself enough credit while I was doing that.
A bikie gang, a prison sentence for assault, ballooning to 130kg, returning to golf — you were no ordinary New Zealand Open winner. Were you surprised your life story and your background struck a chord with so many people last year?
I didn't expect it to blow up that much. I guess because it's my life and I've lived it, I don't think it's that extraordinary. I do see why now other people are so interested in it. It was probably 80% positive. You've always got the critics in the background, but that didn't bother me too much. I haven't focused too much on the negative.
Would you like to be known, though, as just Ryan Peake the golfer rather than Ryan Peake the bloke who's had that background?
When this whole thing started, back when I was in jail having conversations with my coach, Ritchie Smith, he made it very clear that no matter what happened, we were always working on a success story. He made it very clear from the start, when he was basically preparing me for it all. He said, ‘It doesn't matter if you win the Masters, if you win the Open, it doesn't matter what you win — that will be the story’, and I think we ingrained that into my head pretty quickly. I'm fine with it. If I hadn't come out and been so open about, it probably would have been different because it's so exposed. But we were the first ones to be open and honest about it.
How much are you looking forward to getting back to Queenstown?
Yeah, I'm obviously really excited. It's just going to be a cool experience. My first big win ... it elevated so much in my life, that event. I owe it so much. And I love Queenstown as a place. As soon as I’m finished in Kenya, all the yardage books will come out and I'll be studying the course again because I'm not going to get there until late Tuesday night — same as last year, so I'm hoping there's a bit of an omen there.
Anyone coming over to support you?
Yeah, I've got a pretty big support network coming this year. They usually come to the Aussie Open and PGA, and they came to the [British] Open this year. I told them not to come to the Aussie Open and the PGA because they've done all that before. I thought if they just saved the money and came to New Zealand, that would be a bit more of a unique experience. Queenstown's such a magical place and I think they really need to see it. I've yet to see my name actually engraved on that trophy. I mean, there's photos of me holding it, but getting mum and dad to actually look at the trophy and see my name ... that will be a pretty special moment.
Did you know Corey Pavin was the last back-to-back winner of the New Zealand Open in 1984-85?
There you go. It’s been a while. Yeah, there's lots that I need to get right before that happens. I just want to go there and play well and at least put myself in a place that I can contend at the weekend. There's so much that comes with it. But it's definitely on my mind to do.
