Ryan Peake, after playing with Phil Mickelson, was relieved.
At no point Thursday did the six-time major winner help him.
“I would have known I was in a bad place,” Peake said, “if he’d come over and started offering me help.”
Not all was lost for him, though things could’ve been better, as Peake shot a six-over 77 during the first round of the Open Championship at Royal Portrush. He bogeyed his first two holes, and eight in all. He hit four fairways. He hit 10 greens. Most everything else, though, was surreal. By now, Peake’s story has been well documented. He’d been a promising Australian junior. He joined a biker gang. He was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in a serious assault in 2014. But he returned to golf, won the New Zealand Open in early March, earning him a spot at Portrush, and there he was on Thursday.
Next to Mickelson of all people, his hero. On the first tee, Peake said Mickelson introduced himself, which was awkward.
“I don’t think he needs to introduce himself; I was well aware of who he was,” Peake said. “But obviously I was nervous. I wouldn’t say nervous because I was playing next to Phil. It’s just, I guess, your first major and things like that. But I’ve just got to get better at that.”
Did they talk?
“We chatted,” Peake said. “He’s very friendly. We just had a lot of normal chit-chat, talked about family. We talked about different things — nothing in particular.
“But yeah, I grabbed his putter off him a few times and had a little feel of it. That’s the OG; that’s the one from the Masters. There was a couple cool things.”
Overall, though, he said he was disappointed. Though it was his first major start, he said he wouldn’t allow himself grace.
“Not what I want,” Peake said. “So pretty flat at the moment. Was pretty flat out there as well. I just got beat up out there. I felt like I did a couple things all right and kind of didn’t get rewarded for them. But I was like Father Christmas out there; I was just handing out presents to the golf course. I just kept throwing them away, and it was just very frustrating.
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“But I’m sure I’ll — obviously I’ve still got tomorrow and try and do something to make this cut. But the whole experience sort of thing, that’s something that I’ll look on further down the track. I’m not trying to — I’m here to compete. I’m in a competitive mode. So yeah, I was pretty flat.”
Still, he’ll remember a moment on 18.
There, Mickelson’s caddie was giving away balls.
“And I yelled out, ‘What about me?’ Peake said.
“And he said, ‘Are you serious?’, and I said, ‘No, I’m deadly serious.’ “I said, ‘Can you sign a glove as well?
“He’s your hero growing up. My own boy is out here this week and he loves him as well. I’m not going to ask him on the 1st tee, but I’ll ask him after the round.”
