Against All Odds – How a kid from Santa Cruz became an Olympian, a Legend and an inspiration

When Adilson da Silva stood on the eighth tee at Seapoint in the final round of the 2024 OFX Irish Legends, he was six shots back and couldn’t buy a putt for love nor money. 14 holes later – including three playoff holes – he was sinking a birdie putt for victory. You could say the odds weren’t in his favour when he’d seven played, but then again, the odds have been stacked against him his entire career. Hailing from Santa Cruz, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, a sprawling metropolis on Brazil’s southeastern coast where the gap between