Online Reporter
RYAN PEAKE was just completing a five-year jail sentence for a brutal assault the last time The Open was played at Portrush.
Now, incredibly, the former biker gang member is one of the players battling for the Claret Jug this week.
Peake, 31, was jailed at the end of 2014 after an attack on a rival gangster that left the victim with a fractured skull and two broken arms.
Then just 19, the Australian was joined by at least two other men from Perth-based biker club The Rebels in the assault.
He has always refused to reveal who else was involved and was the only one charged with the crime.
One of them was armed with a baseball bat – with Peake saying that was because they had been warned their target was armed – and had been making threats towards The Rebels.
Speaking at Portrush on Tuesday, Peake said: “He was doing some bad things and we had knowledge of that— and then he made some pretty heinous threats towards us as well.
“So we just went to deal with it and honestly it wasn’t meant to happen like that.
“We were genuinely just going there for a chat, he was probably going to get a couple of punches along the way, and it would have been left at that.
“That sounds harsh, but this person lived the same lifestyle as us. The only way you can get through is to speak that language.
“It just happened to be that the threats that he made towards us were true, and he was armed. It escalated from there. That’s it.
“I’m not saying it’s right that I’ve gone and beat someone up. But I haven’t gone and beat up your dad.”
Peake delivered the first kick and The Rebels rained blows on their victim.
A few weeks later, three unmarked police cars turned up in the car park of the Lakelands Golf Club —where Peake helped out his greenkeeper dad —to arrest him.
He was already a professional golfer by then.
But after a stellar amateur career— where he represented Australia in junior tournaments alongside 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith – he became disillusioned with the game, and decided he loved the “camaraderie” of the local biker gang.
And despite admitting he found prison life tough, he shows little signs of remorse for the crime that led to him being locked up.
He added: “Jail was bad, real bad.
“Strip naked, take a shower in front of the guards and then you’re crammed into a tiny box with two other guys.
“When they turned out the light that first night I thought to myself ‘What the hell have you gotten yourself into?’
“But if you don’t like the accommodation, don’t make the reservation.
“Look, I did something bad, I’ve owned it and tried to move on.
“I’ve turned my life around, but I don’t want to be looked at as some kind of role model or superhero. I just want to look to the future rather than the past.
“But I don’t hide away from my past. It happened and the best thing I can do is to be honest about it.”—Sun
