Reformed Aussie prisoner Ryan Peake's Open Championship debut alongside Phil Mickelson falls flat

7NEWS

18-07-2025

Wide-eyed Open debutant Ryan Peake has been given a special gift by his illustrious playing partner Phil Mickelson — but it was the big Aussie who ended up feeling like a deflated Father Christmas on the unforgiving Royal Portrush links.
The 31-year-old, whose remarkable redemption story from jailed biker gang member (he spent five years in prison) to golfing champion has been the talk of the Open this week, felt unashamedly wide-eyed and a mite nervous as he teed off with one of his heroes, six-time major champ Mickelson, on Thursday morning.
But he made sure he would get a special memento of his big day as he got the 55-year-old fellow 'Lefty' to sign a golf glove and give him his ball after a round when they enjoyed rather different fortunes.
Peake watched awe-struck as the 2013 champion Mickelson rekindled some of his old magic, not least when the American failed to extricate himself from a greenside bunker at his first attempt on the third hole only to hole his second effort in wizardly fashion.
Yet while Mickelson finished on one under, Peake never got going, ending up with a six-over 77 that's going to make it a real struggle to make the cut.
'I felt like I did a couple things all right and kind of didn't get rewarded for them,' sighed Peake, who'd earned his spot through his fairytale win at the New Zealand Open in March when the amazing tale surfaced of how rediscovering golf gave the former bikie a shot at a new life after serving jail time for assault.
'But I was like Father Christmas out there - I was just handing out presents to the golf course. I just kept throwing shots away, and it was just very frustrating.
'Obviously, I've still got tomorrow to try and do something to make this cut, but the whole experience, that's something that I'll look on further down the track. I'm here to compete, but I just got beat up out there.'
It was, though, an experience he'll never forget. Even just meeting Mickelson was a thrill.
'He just introduced himself at the first tee. I don't think he needs to introduce himself, I was well aware of who he was!
'But obviously I was nervous - not because I was playing next to Phil - it's just, I guess, your first major and things like that. I've just got to get better at (handling) that.'
Did 'Lefty' offer him any help? 'No, I would have known I was in a bad place if he'd come over and started offering me help!' smiled Peake.
'But no, we chatted. He's very friendly. I grabbed his putter off him a few times and had a little feel of it. There was a couple of cool things.
'His caddie was giving away golf balls as we walked off the first tee, and I yelled out, 'what about me?', and he had a laugh, thought I was being sarcastic, and said, 'are you serious?' -- and I said, 'I'm deadly serious!'.
'I said, 'can you sign a glove as well?'. My own boy is out here this week and he loves Phil as well. I'm not going to ask him on the first tee, but I'll ask him after the round.'
Mickelson obliged and the pair will enjoy round two together on Friday. 'I'm definitely not counting myself out of it. But yeah, at the moment just pretty flat,' said Peake.