Trailing Korean star Guntaek Koh by four strokes at the start of the final round at Millbrook Resort in Queenstown, Peake needed to make a 10-foot putt for par on the 72nd hole to avoid a playoff with fellow Australian Jack Thompson (63), Japan’s Kazuki Higa (66) and South African Ian Snyman (66).

The 31-year-old went bogey-free for his final 55 holes and shot 5-under 66 on Sunday to finish atop the leaderboard at 23-under par, in so doing becoming the first lefthander to win the NZ Open since Sir Bob Charles in 1973.

Sixty-two years after Charles become the first New Zealander to win The Open Championship, as champion, Peake will now contest the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush in July and is now in contention to claim the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.

Given his back-story that includes amateur golf alongside Cameron Smith and a five-year stint in jail for assault while a member of the Rebels bikie gang, Peake did not have the necessary visa to travel to New Zealand until the start of the week.

He arrived in Queenstown on Tuesday, played 36 holes on Wednesday and leaves with another extraordinary chapter added to his story.

“I’ve just changed my life,” Peake said post-round.

“This is what I do. I want to be here and just play golf. The story is what it is but I’m just out here playing golf.”

It was while he was incarcerated that renowned coach Ritchie Smith reached out and asked whether Peake wanted to play competitive golf again.

He wondered whether he was a charity case, but also knew Smith enough to know he wouldn’t waste time on an assignment he saw no future in.

It was a heart-to-heart at the end of 2024 that reaffirmed to Peake that while a win had proved elusive, they were on a path towards something special.

“I always knew I could do it; it was just a matter of time of when I was going to do it,” he added.

“Elvis Smylie was in the same predicament not too long ago and our coach, Ritchie Smith, said it was going to switch and that you’ve just got to commit to it.

“He had the same chat with me when I missed the cut at the Aussie Open and the Aussie PGA.

“We set out some goals of how we wanted to finish off the rest of the year and along with my family, my team, everyone believed. But most of all I believed as well.”

Given the play of Koh over the previous 36 holes, Peake’s belief in his chances of winning had to have been tested early on Sunday.

A birdie at the fifth hole lifted Peake into a tie for second but still three shots off the lead, that deficit trimmed to two by the seventh hole.

Koh moved three shots clear again with birdie at the par-4 eighth but Peake stayed in the frame with crucial birdies at nine and 12 to join Koh at 22-under and tied for the lead.

Three bogeys in succession by Koh from the 13th hole dramatically changed the complexion of the tournament, Peake suddenly sharing top spot with Thompson, Snyman and Higa with two holes to play.

Thompson and Snyman both missed birdie chances at the final hole in the groups ahead, leaving Peake to two-putt for birdie from the back fringe at the par-5 17th to move one clear, his first putt coming to rest just two feet to the left of the cup.

It meant that par at a par-3 finisher framed by water would seal victory, only for Peake to add to the tension when he missed the green to the right with his tee shot.

Left with a testing chip across the green towards water on the far side, Peake came up short with his chip. He then showed remarkable composure to hole the putt for par and add his name to the New Zealand Open’s remarkable history.

That history will continue to be written in Queenstown, with Millbrook Resort confirmed as the host venue for at least the next seven years at the tournament presentation.

Holding off a group of home favourites desperate to win the Stonehaven Cup, American Ryggs Johnston scored the biggest win of his professional career at the 2024 ISPS HANDA Australian Open at Kingston Heath today.

The first American champion since Jordan Spieth claimed his second title in 2016 added his name alongside a list of illustrious countrymen that includes Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Gene Sarazen.

Johnston (65-68-68-68) was a three-shot winner at 18-under, with West Australian Curtis Luck finishing as runner-up after a final round 4-under 68. His weekend tally of 11-under coming after a 71-68 start.

Luck held the lead late in his round, however after three weeks of consecutive golf, the man from Cottesloe admitted he was running out of steam, and bogeys at 17 and 18 ensued.

Victorians Marc Leishman and Jasper Stubbs shared third place at 14-under, after both, like Luck, looked to threaten at certain points on Sunday.

Johnston, Luck and Leishman claimed the three 2025 Open Championship spots and can start planning for Royal Portrush,, Stubbs missing out due to Leishman having a better world ranking.

Having not won a four-round event since his high school days, Johnston gained his DP World Tour status just weeks ago through Qualifying School, and has now solidified his position.

“Getting a win and hopefully getting into more tournaments and just knowing that I’ve secured pretty legit status now, it’s great,” the 24-year-old said.

Having a look at the Stonehaven Cup while the media spoke with women’s winner Jiyai Shin, Johnston was able to take in the plethora of who’s who in golf that is etched into the Stonehaven Cup.

“It’s just really cool to be in that group,” he said. “I’m just pretty honoured to be able to put my name on it now too and I’ll cherish this moment forever.”

Johnston made his intentions clear early, pouring in a putt from off the first green for eagle, and backing it up with a birdie the third.

A trio of bogeys and another birdie had the American turn in 1-under, and at that point as the leaderboard tightened, a healthy group still had chances.

It was the back nine where Johnston made the championship his own however, coming home in 3-under with the wind and the rain intensifying, and playing for the most significant result of his young career took serious grit.

“On 14, I kind of hit it right again and wasn’t in a great spot and I got myself out of trouble and made a nice 12-15 footer for birdie there,” said Johnston of the defining moment for him.

“Then made a longer one on 15 and that’s kind of when I was really like, all right, you can win this tournament.

“It was definitely a little stressful. The weather was kind of up and down. It was really nice for 15 minutes and really bad for 15 minutes.

“I knew I was right in it and then when I walked up to 17 green, I finally saw the leaderboard and saw I had a three-shot lead and then I could take a little bit of a breath.”

Runner-up Luck said: “The finish wasn’t ideal, but at the end of the day I was not really hitting balls three months ago, so I don’t think I can complain too much.

“I’ve been pretty rusty the four events I’ve played down here in Australia and I think that probably showed down the stretch and I was doing my best to clinging on, but it got the better of me.

“I think I make it pretty hard on myself quite often, so if I could clean up those areas, yeah, I still believe absolutely 100 percent that I could be right up there with the best.”

After being in the lead for most of the tournament, home favourite Lucas Herbert (74) wound up in six-way share of fifth at -12.  His challenge fell away with three bogeys and no birdies on the back nine, leaving the Ripper GC team member a frustrated man as he walked off 18.

Joining Herbert in the group six shots back were defending champion Joaquin Niemann (72), BMW Australian PGA winner Elvis Smylie (72) and fellow Aussie Harrison Crowe (71), Asia-Pacific Amateur champion Wenyi Ding (72) and a charging Kiradech Aphibarnrat (68).

Smylie made a mini run with three straight birdies on the front nine but couldn’t find his Royal Queensland magic over the closing nine.

However, the 22-year-old consolidated his lead at the top of the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia standings before he heads off to the Nedbank Challenge on the DP World Tour.

Meanwhile, after his runner-up finish at the PGA, Cam Smith ended his Summer of Golf by finishing equal 39th at 3-under.

A blemish free 8-under 63 early today at Victoria was good enough to secure a one-shot day one lead over Japanese amateur Rintaro Nakano and American Ryggs Johnston, who were both at Kingston Heath for round one.

There are four players tied fourth at 6-under, all of whom played at Victoria on day one. The 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith and last season’s Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner Kazuma Kobori are joined by Finland’s Oliver Lindell and American Jordan Gumberg, who had the low afternoon round.

Despite grabbing the lead, Herbert, a Victorian who played much of his teenage golf on the Sandbelt, still felt like he could have got more out of his day.

“I felt like there was a lot of shots left out there, I feel like that with every round of golf, to be fair,” Herbert said with a smile.

“I didn’t really think I holed that many putts, just hit it quite nicely. Got it into the right spots.

“Probably got a couple of lucky breaks here and there where shots that maybe weren’t the best didn’t get punished the way they could have.

“Look, if that’s the worst round of the week, I’d be pretty happy.”

Starting on Victoria’s 10th hole, in the shadow of the Peter Thomson statue, Herbert opened his account with three pars but was quickly able to take advantage of his length with birdies at 13, and the famous short par-4 15th.

Back-to-back birdies at the 17th and 18th, both par-5s, had the NSW Open champion turn in 4-under, keeping up with Smith ahead of him who was making birdies for fun around the turn.

Herbert kept the foot on the pedal on his second nine, making yet another birdie on the short first, before the scoring finally paused.

Not for long though, with a further birdie at six, before a stunning eagle at the par-5 ninth put an exclamation mark on a near-perfect opening day.

“Slightly pulled my tee shot there, just down the left. Kind of got a little lucky it didn’t bounce and get into that thicker stuff,” Herbert said of his finishing hole.

“To put it up there pretty close and then to roll it in for the eagle, just put a nice finish on the end of that round.”

Having held him off at Murray Downs two weeks ago, Herbert knows that Smith will be the one to watch out for in the chasing pack.

“He will be the guy to beat this week I’d imagine,” Herbert said. “He’s been in some great form, he’s obviously finished, I think third, second, second in the last three events.

“I’ll be shocked if he’s not pushing me pretty hard on the weekend or I’m pushing him pretty hard on the weekend to win the Stonehaven Cup.”

Smith is keen to get one back on his Ripper GC teammate after the NSW Open, but says it’s going to be no easy feat, and isn’t counting out another Victorian either.

“I know he (Herbert) is playing really good golf and there’s a ton of other guys as well,” said Smith

“Leish is playing really good. His caddie Matty was saying how good he’s hitting it, so it’s going to be a good weekend.”

Leishman started with a 3-under 68 at Victoria. Meanwhile American Harry Higgs is well in touch after a 5-under 66, with the PGA TOUR player happy to find the consistency that was lacking in Brisbane.

A surprise bolter on day one is the 21-year-old Japanese amateur Nakano, who won the 2023 Japanese Amateur Championship and has played one US PGA TOUR event.

He was at -8 before bogeying the par-4 final hole at Kingston Heath.

Last week’s BMW Australian PGA champion Elvis Smylie opened his Open account with a 1-under 70, after fighting back from being 3-over early.