Ryan Peake

Fifteen years after he teamed up with fellow 17-year-old Cameron Smith to win the boys’ division of the Trans Tasman Trophy, Ryan Peake will be back alongside the 2022 Champion Golfer at Royal Portrush.

This comes after his maiden professional victory in March at the New Zealand Open - an event he went into ranked 1,215th in the world.

One place was available as part of The Open Qualifying Series and despite back-to-back rounds of 64 in Queenstown he still trailed by four entering the last day, but a birdie at the 17th and closing 10-foot par putt for a 66 and 23 under par total spared him a four-man play-off.

After becoming the first left-hander to capture the New Zealand Open since Sir Bob Charles did so in 1973, Peake said: "I've just changed my life.

"I always knew I could do it, it was just a matter of time of when I was going to do it."