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No challenge too big for Carl Sandburg golfer with Cerebral Palsy

Anna Duden hasn't been dealt the easiest set of cards. But you'd have no idea by how she carries herself on and off the golf course.

GALESBURG, Ill. — If you didn't know before, Anna Duden's golf swing doesn't give it away. Duden, a first year from Gifford, Illinois, is a new face on the Carl Sandburg College women's golf team. 

"I just love how competitive it is," Duden said. "I'm a very competitive person. It's different for everyone who plays it. It can be for all ages. Everybody can play it." 

Throughout her young golf career, Anna found that to be especially true. She was so competitive growing up, she was the lone member of her high school golf team. 

"When I went in freshman year, they didn't have a golf team. So I made one." Duden said. 

Credit: WQAD

What she did on the course during her prep years was more than enough to get Sandburg women's head coach Gail Hannam's attention. 

"She's very consistent," said Hannam. "I would say 90 percent of the time she's down the middle. I just think she's growing with each round." 

But there's something about Anna that sets her apart from other golfers on the team -- and elsewhere. 

"At ten or eleven days old, I stopped eating. I was taken to my local hospital about 30 minutes away. I flatlined for 17 minutes," said Duden. Those 17 minutes would change the course of her young life. "I was air lifted to the Children's Hospital [of Illinois] in Peoria. I stayed there for probably six weeks," said Duden. "I was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy." 

Cerebral Palsy is a disorder that can cause mobility, balance, and posture issues. It's the most common motor disability in children, according to the CDC. CP varies from person to person. That's the case with Duden who was diagnosed with a mild form. 

"It's been challenging, but I've learned to go with it and learn with my coaches and just learn what I can do and what I can't do, my strengths," said Duden. 

On the golf course, Anna does certain things differently but she hopes the result is the same as her counterparts. 

"I have to use a cart, I can't walk the full 18," said Duden. "But other than that, my swing looks a little bit different than everybody else's. But I'd like to say that it goes straight and long." 

Even so, she never makes excuses for her game, according to Coach Hannam. 

"I'm amazed at how how strong she is," said Hannam. "She doesn't get frustrated too much. If she does get frustrated, she doesn't show it, which is a great quality to have on the golf course." 

Credit: WQAD

Duden certainly doesn't see her disability as one at all. 

"I just don't see it as much that way," said Duden. "I just see it as I'm just a normal college golfer out here just trying to shoot my best round and not letting anything get in the way." 

"I think even her competitors are really, truly, inspired by what she's done," said Hannam. 

Her proof is in her scorecard. Her best round to date is an 84 and she finished third at the Charger Invite, shooting a final round 85. 

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