Former Rebels bikie gang member Ryan Peake has overcome visa issues and a hugely disrupted preparation to surge into contention after two rounds of the New Zealand Open.

Peake was sentenced to five years imprisonment in 2014 for serious assault when he was just 21, before turning his life around with the aid of renowned golf coach Ritchie Smith and others.

The burly West Australian has never hidden from his chequered past when he was ‘young and stupid’.

But due to his criminal record, the former junior prodigy and Australasian Tour rookie is only able to travel overseas if he can obtain a special direction order.

There were several hold-ups in processing the paperwork for the trip to New Zealand, meaning the powerful left-hander only arrived in Queenstown on Tuesday evening, 36 hours before the start of the $A1.8million event.

Peake had never laid eyes on the 36-hole Millbrook Resort layout before, so was forced to play both courses on Wednesday to get his bearings.

Ryan Peake was a patched member of the Rebels before he was jailed for a serious assault

Peake turned his life around by going back to his first love, golf, after he was released from prison

It paid off big-time, with the 31-year-old shooting opening rounds of 67 and 64 to sit in outright third spot at 11 under midway through day two on Friday.

Fellow Australian James Marchesani was setting the pace at 14 under, with the afternoon starters still out on the course.

‘I can’t get a visa to travel here, so I’ve got to travel on a special direction order,’ said Peake, who sits just outside the top 20 on the Australasian Tour order of merit (OOM).

‘It got granted on the Monday but it took three flights from then that I couldn’t get on.

‘But credit to New Zealand Immigration as well.

‘I thought I was getting stonewalled and wasn’t going to be getting here but they were actually doing everything in the background to get me here.’

During his time in prison, Peake’s weight ballooned to 130kg.

He’s much fitter now, but even so, walking and playing 36 holes on Wednesday was a stretch.

Peake is turning it on at the New Zealand Open after gaining a visa through a special direction order

Peake takes full accountability for his past and hopes to inspire other young men to follow a better path

‘I went home that night and I was really tired, but luckily enough on Thursday I had the afternoon round so I did get some sleep,’ he said.

‘Because the prep hasn’t been very good, basically Thursday and Friday was just about trying to keep some big numbers off the card and give myself some looks … and try and work it out from there.

‘Yesterday I did a pretty good job with that, although I got a bit lazy on a couple of holes.

‘And today I played a bit better.

‘I left a few chances out there but with the prep I can’t expect everything to go my way.’

Marchesani, the son of former Fitzroy and Carlton AFL player Frank Marchesani, got to 16 under through 35 holes on Friday before carding a double-bogey six on his final hole.

But after shooting opening rounds of 63 and 65, the positives far outweighed the one negative.

‘I hit a lot of good shots which helps and I putted great which is why you are at the top end of the leaderboard, especially in conditions like this,’ said the 34-year-old Victorian.

China’s Bobby Bai was at 13 under, two shots ahead of Peake, with OOM leader Elvis Smylie, fellow Australian Justin Warren, New Zealander Michael Hendry and Ryosuke Kinoshita from Japan tied for fourth at 10 under.

Australians Travis Smyth and Kevin Yuan (both opening rounds of six-under 65) and leading New Zealand hope Ben Campbell (four-under 67) were among the prominent players with afternoon tee times on Friday.