Augusta National Golf Club, home to the prestigious Masters tournament, is undergoing ambitious expansion.
The club has doubled the size of its course, spending over $200 million to purchase properties covering 270 acres, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The club has substantial plans, including parking, housing and even the construction of a second 18-hole course down the road. Despite the buying spree, which has made many Augusta, Georgia, residents instant millionaires, one Georgia family is saying no, thank you.
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Herman and Elizabeth Thacker built their home at 1112 Stanley Road in the city of Augusta in 1959. It's a modest 1,900-square-foot, three-bedroom home located across from Gate 6-A at the Masters.
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In the past decade, the neighborhood surrounding their home has been bought and bulldozed. The club has spent over $40 million to turn it into free parking for its world-famous members and patrons. Despite several seven-figure attempts by Augusta National to buy the Thackers' home, the house still stands.
"Money ain't everything," Herman Thacker said in a 2016 interview with NJ.com.
Herman, a golf fan, died in 2019 at the age of 86, but his wife of 66 years remains one of the few holdouts, rejecting millions of dollars from an organization that is rarely told "no."
"Yes, we still own it, and, yes, mom still lives there," the couple’s daughter, Robin Thacker Rinder, confirmed to FOX Business. Elizabeth, now 92, is still the proud owner of the 1,900-square-foot property. It's estimated to be worth about $330,000 and sits on two-thirds of an acre. A representative from Augusta National still visits to express interest in buying the property.
About 40,000 people visit Augusta, Georgia, every year for the golf spectacle held since 1934. It's big money. The tournament purse is expected to be $18 million in 2024. The tournament also provides exposure to golf equipment makers and sponsors, as well as IBM, whose Watson tracks player statistics.
With thousands of cars parked in the Thackers' neighborhood, few notice the small house at the edge of the lot, but it doesn't look like it's going anywhere anytime soon.
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The couple did sell another property they owned to the golf course, a smaller house down the street, for $1.2 million. It was flattened within a week. However, 1112 Stanley Road, the home where they raised their two children, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, is not for sale.
