Straight Out Of A Movie: Ryan Peake Spent 5 Years In Jail, Showed Up Late To The New Zealand Open, Wins The Event Today To Qualify For The Open

Now as much as I love golf, I'm the first to admit I'm not locked into the New Zealand Open. That is until I found out about Ryan Peake winning this today. Why? Well, here's his story: 

Just a little Sons of Anarchy turned into a qualifier for The Open. Perfect. This is exactly what I want from qualifying evens. I know we get a lot of the Justin Rose type stories from a year ago. Pro golfers who aged, fell off a bit, go through qualifying and then put together a ridiculous round. Now we have Cam Smith's old friend coming out of jail, showing up late to the event because of security clearance and then winning the thing without a bogey. 

Oh and that putt in the top of the blog? That gave him a 1-stroke win and avoid a 4-person playoff. Imagine the nerves? I don't care if you're playing in a Thursday night league at your home course or the New Zealand Open, an 8-foot par putt is terrifying. Dude was nails though. Not saying it's hard to be nervous on the course after being in jail for 5 years, but that has to help a bit, no? Peake gets to go to Royal Portrush now and play with house money. Absurd all the way around.