There are two things that stand above all at Augusta National:
Resplendent, joyous golf tradition.
Merchandise … lots and lots of merchandise.
Of course, the reigning king of the Masters shop for seemingly the millionth year running is the Masters gnome. Standing a mere foot high and often never even opened, the diminutive figurines have nonetheless become the biggest score in golf merch. Patrons wait in line for hours for a chance to buy one of the bearded buddies, with resellers listing them on platforms like eBay for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.
In fact, the fervour has gotten so great that it’s begun to impact the players. At least according to Viktor Hovland, who apparently receives so many requests from his friends and family that his Australian caddie, Shay Knight, had to officially, in true Aussie nature, take over gnome duty. Check it out.
The power of the Masters gnome! 😅 pic.twitter.com/extfIM889m
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) March 24, 2026
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“It’s funny, Shay doesn’t have any gnomes,” Hovland explains. “He gets pestered by my friends and family to go in the shop in the morning, stand in line for 40 minutes, and buy all the gnomes … I feel bad for him.”
There are some here at Golf Digest who quietly question the usefulness (or lack thereof) of caddies in modern golf, but this is proof that even in the era of robotic swings, data, aimpoint, agents and bodyguards, the old-fashioned looper still serves a valuable purpose.
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