{"id":593980,"date":"2026-04-08T19:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/593980\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T19:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:01:08","slug":"gnome-unknowns-masters-chair-ridley-in-dark-about-ornaments-augusta-future-the-masters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/593980\/","title":{"rendered":"Gnome unknowns: Masters chair Ridley in dark about ornaments\u2019 Augusta future | The Masters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The Masters gnome drama has taken another twist after the chair of Augusta National admitted he is in the dark as to the must-have items\u2019\u00a0future. Fred Ridley has repeatedly asked whether 2026 will be the final year \u00adfor\u00a0gnomes being on sale \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2026\/apr\/06\/retirement-gnome-masters-miniatures-rumoured-to-have-short-future-at-augusta-golf\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">as has been\u00a0widely speculated <\/a>\u2013 but revealed there is internal secrecy even towards him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Ridley\u2019s annual Masters media address took an amusing turn when a questioner put what was \u00adsuggested as a \u201ctrivial\u201d poser towards him: are\u00a0reports of the gnomes\u2019 demise\u00a0\u00adcorrect? \u201cNumber one, the question is not trivial,\u201d he said. \u201cNumber\u00a0two: I\u2019ve been asking that question for \u00adseveral years and they won\u2019t tell me the answer. So I can\u2019t help you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Who \u201cthey\u201d are is unclear, but it is intriguing that someone of \u00adRidley\u2019s standing in Augusta is being cut out of the conversation. The stampede for \u00adMasters gnomes, which typically sell out within one morning hour, is \u00adunderstood to have left officials with concerns about the spectator \u00adexperience in merchandise outlets. The gnomes cost $49.50 (\u00a337), but have huge resale value.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">On matters more serious, Ridley has maintained Augusta\u2019s position on a potential rollback of the ball. The issue has met with \u00adresistance from equipment manufacturers and \u00adseveral leading players. \u201cI want to be clear that our position is grounded on much more than protecting the Augusta National golf course,\u201d \u00adRidley\u00a0said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cWe will \u00adcontinue to make \u00admodifications as are necessary to react to driving \u00addistances that in some cases exceed 350 yards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cUnfortunately, many courses, including some iconic venues, do not have that option. Until recent years golf has been a game of \u00adimagination, creativity and variety. The game has become much more one-dimensional.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cMy feeling on this subject is that failure is not an option. We need to continue to work together to come to some agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Masters gnome drama has taken another twist after the chair of Augusta National admitted he is in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-593980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}