Former bike gang member wins New Zealand Open
Ryan Peake celebrates his win. Picture: The R&A
Former motorcycle gang member Ryan Peake clinched a dream spot in The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush with his life-changing win in the New Zealand Open.
The Australian (31), who served five years in prison for assault, made a ten footer for par at the last at Millbrook Resort in Queenstown to win by a shot on 23-under.
"It's life-changing," said the tattooed Australian after firing a final-round 66 in an event where he didn’t arrive until Tuesday due to visa issues. "I always knew I could do it; it was just a matter of time when I was going to do it."
Peake quit the game in his late teens but was contacted in prison by coach Ritchie Smith, who encouraged him to take up the game again after his release in 2019.
He will be joined at Royal Portrush by Dylan Naidoo, who beat Laurie Canter with a birdie at the first playoff hole to become the first South African player of colour to win the Investec South African Open at the Durban Country Club.
The event was reduced to 54 holes after heavy overnight rain flooded the course, and officials opted to cancel the final round and allow leaders Naidoo and Canter to fight it out in a playoff.
Naidoo birdied the 18th from three feet to win the title at the same venue where Papwa Sewgolum won the 1963 Natal Open to become the first player of colour to win a professional event in South Africa.
"For what this means in terms of Papwa Sewgolum and him having won the Natal Open here, it's incredible," said Naidoo, who earned his DP World Tour card and will be joined at Royal Portrush by Marco Penge and Darren Fichardt as runner-up Canter was already exempt.
Shane Lowry, who won The Open at Royal Portrush in 2019, closed with a four-under 67 to tie for 11th in the Cognizant Classic in Florida.
The Offaly man finished on 13-under par, six strokes behind the unheralded Joe Highsmith, who shot a second successive 64 to win by two strokes from Jason Bridgeman (64) and JJ Spaun (66).
Max McGreevy (67) and Ben Griffin (*69) tied for fourth on 16-under while overnight leader Jake Knapp triple bogeyed the 11th and shot a 72 to slip to joint sixth with Russell Henley (70) and Michael Kim (71) on 15-under,
Erik van Rooyen (65) and Jordan Spieth (68) rounded out the top 10 on 14-under.
On the LPGA's HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore, Leona Maguire closed with a 69 to finish tied for 21st on two-under, 11 shots behind Lydia Ko.
The New Zealander closed with a three-under 69 to win by four shots from Japan's Ayaka Furue and Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul at Sentosa's Tanjong Course.
In Egypt, Royal Dublin's Hugh Foley shot 67 and goes into today's final round of the Alps Tour's New Giza Open just one stroke behind Argentina's Gato Bertinotti (67), Quentin Debove of France (66) and Javier Barcos of Spain (66).
