00:00Stephen Alderson, better known as Spud, is a local celebrity at his beloved Wollonga
00:08Golf Club, a place he's spent countless hours honing his craft since he was a child.
00:13I'd actually catch the school bus with my golf gear, come play golf and then when the
00:17school bus was ready to go back home, I'd just catch the school bus back home.
00:21He'd roll up at six o'clock in the morning and he'd be here at eight o'clock at night.
00:26He would just play and play and play.
00:28In a whirlwind 2024, Alderson and his caddy Trent Blucher travelled the world as he competed
00:34in the G4D Tour, a golf tournament for the disabled.
00:38Collecting wins in Spain and Dubai, Alderson made international headlines when he became
00:43the first autistic person to win an event on the tour, an emotional post-win interview
00:49going viral.
00:50Growing up as a kid, just being bullied all the time at school and even bullied at other
00:55golf clubs, it just means the world, so awesome.
01:00Only diagnosed with autism ten years ago, Alderson says he grew up in a generation confused
01:06by his emotions.
01:07Really really difficult because we didn't know what autism was but we had a lot of doctors
01:14tell my mum and dad that they were bad parents and I was just a bad child.
01:19Alderson's recent experiences have helped him learn valuable life skills that were once
01:23overwhelming, from catching full trains in Dubai to traversing through busy international
01:28airports.
01:29He hopes to use his success on the golf course as a beacon for others.
01:34If I can help other people in the world with autism or just a disability, I'd love to do
01:39that.
01:40Just follow their dream and if someone tells them they can't do it, just go out and show
01:43them that they're wrong.
01:46His story is organic and real but the attention that's coming to him is sincere, it's people
01:50showing gratitude for him sharing his story.
01:54His story will continue in 2025, with Alderson already clinching another trophy at an All
01:59Abilities event in Perth.
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