Last year for Masters gnome? Patrons debate rumor that coveted gift is going away.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — If you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to walk around with Sydney Sweeney or Leonardo DiCaprio or (insert A-list sex symbol here), stand outside the Masters golf shop with a gnome. There are whispers and gawking and this odd feeling from wondering if passers-bys are jealous or disgusted.

It’s not uncommon for gnome-carrying patrons to be asked how they came to secure one and, occasionally, interrogated about their desire to sell the gnome right then and there. Especially late in the day, as patrons are exiting the gates, folks will just blurt out numbers in hopes someone will bite.

Four-hundred? Five-hundred? Six?

For perhaps the first time, as a number of journalists and patrons have observed this year, consumerism engulfed this tournament — at least, during the practice rounds. If you are a fan of the Masters, you have likely seen the “merch hauls” posted by “influencers” on social media that treat Augusta National like a Gucci store.

“You see all these Masters hauls and it’s like, ‘You don’t need 50 of those,’ ” Augusta resident Paige Durden said Friday outside the golf shop. “The influencers, too — like, that’s gross. I hope they try and shut that down. It would be hard, but they have a way for everything.”

Nothing feels more antithetical to the tradition of the Masters than watching TikToks of soccer moms dropping $6,000 on Peter Millar polos and salt-and-pepper shakers shaped like gnomes.

The poster boy of this movement is, of course, the Masters garden gnome — which is perhaps why rumors are swirling that this will be the last year Augusta National sells the figurine. When asked about that rumor Wednesday, Augusta National Golf Club Chairman Fred Ridley said he’s been “asking that question for several years, and they won’t tell me the answer.”

“I don’t see it leaving,” patron Stacy Dimsdale said. “Dude, that thing — it’s hot right now.”

Golf Digest has reported that the Masters releases about 1,000 gnomes per day, each retailing for $59.50 (up $10 from last year). On Friday alone, a number of 2026 gnomes were selling for over $500 on eBay — which is why patrons are willing to wake up well before dawn to be near the front of the crowd when Augusta National opens its gates at 7 a.m.

Aiken residents Amy Myers and Tammy Pruitt pulled into the gates around 5:20 a.m. Friday and believed they were one of the first hundred folks in line. Of course that meant they had no trouble getting a gnome.

“(That was) one of the goals,” Myers said. “My gnome is for a friend of mine. I don’t even want him. Mine’s for a friend of mine. She begged and pleaded for me to get her a gnome.”

“And just because we’re local,” Pruitt chimed in, “we feel like we need one.”

Neither said they would be upset if the gnome goes the way of the dodo. They also weren’t convinced the 13.5-inch ceramic, bearded man is on the verge of extinction.

“I think it’s a rumor,” Pruitt said. “They’re not gonna get rid of the gnome.”

“I don’t either,” Myers said. “They’re too popular.”

Fueling the rumors of the gnome’s demise is the fact that this was the 10th iteration and, well, ending on a round number just makes sense. Because their popularity wasn’t immediate, the original 2016 gnome is a golden goose that would likely fetch over $10,000 today — a fact that pains those who passed up on buying one.

“When I came here (in 2016), those things were sitting at the bottom (of the golf shop),” Dimsdale said. “Nobody was buying one. I didn’t even buy one because, at the time, I thought it was kind of redneck. I thought it was something my wife would complain like, ‘We’re not putting that in the yard.’ ”

He bought one on Friday, though.

Riding with Bailey and Steven Werber — a pair of Clemson grads who now live in Charleston — the trio pulled into the parking lots just after 6 a.m. Gnomes or not, they’ve always tried to arrive at Augusta National early to get their shopping done ... but, well, gnomes are an earned reward for early-risers.

“You don’t wanna get up that early,” said Steven Werber, who was out of the golf shop before 8:15 a.m., “just to do your normal shopping that you could’ve done any other time, or get parking that you could’ve gotten.”

With that comes the anxiety of gnome hunting. Call it the thrill — or dread — of the chase.

“My buddy missed out on it yesterday and really wanted one and I was, like, “OK, I’ll get you one,’ ” said patron Zach Branscum, 31, from Cincinnati. “So we came early.”

As did Cole Curry, Jackson Strickland and Madison Mixon, three Augusta natives in their mid-20s who all attended nearby Lakeside High together. They came to the Masters on Friday determined to score a gnome.

“I lost sleep over it last night,” Strickland said.

Strickland is a gnome collector — a genuine gnome collector, if such a designation exists, considering he’s purchased them all inside Augusta National. After Friday’s pickup, he owns eight of the 10 Masters garden gnomes, missing only the elusive 2016 rarity and the 2018 figurine dressed as a caddie, which is a sore subject.

“I actually resold them that year,” he said. “I bought them for $40, sold them for $80 and thought, ‘I’m a great, smart teenager making great business decisions.’ Here I am eight years later like, ‘That could’ve paid for a home.’ ”

Which is why he won’t be mad if this was the last year of the gnome. Scarcity creates demand, and Strickland is holding onto his investment.

“I’ve kept them so long and haven’t sold them because I think I’d like a down payment on a home in 10 years,” he said. “Or to pay off a car. I mean, honestly.”