Masters host Augusta National wants this house, but stubborn neighbor still won’t sell

The Augusta National Golf Club has spent hundreds of millions of dollars reshaping the landscape around its storied course. The club, home to the prestigious Masters Tournament, has bought up and bulldozed most of the neighborhoods surrounding its famous green fairways, replacing homes with sprawling parking lots and pristine landscaping. But one house still stands, a stubborn holdout in a sea of green.Elizabeth Thacker, who turns 93 this year, refuses to sell her home at 1112 Stanley Road despite years of lucrative offers from Augusta National.Thacker and her late husband, Herman, built their 1,900-square-foot home in 1959. For decades, they watched as Augusta National transformed from a historic golf course into an empire. Over the past 10 years, the club has bought out nearly all of their neighbors, paying millions for properties that were quickly demolished. The club’s expansion now includes plans for additional hospitality areas, parking and even a second course.MASTERS MONEY: WHAT GOLF'S ELITE CAN EARNYet through all the transactions and development, Thacker has held firm."Yes, we still own it, and yes, Mom still lives there," her daughter, Robin Thacker Rinder, confirmed to FOX Business. "She is very strong-willed." Hard to argue with that, because Zillow estimates the house is worth around $366,000 based on its size and location. That is above the median listing price for Augusta of $215,000, as tracked by Realtor.com.However, Augusta National has reportedly made offers that far exceed that number. Rinder confirmed to FOX Business that multiple offers by Augusta National have been made to the family but declined to disclose the price. The club has a track record of paying well above market value for properties it wants. A smaller house the Thackers owned down the street was sold to the club for $1.2 million. It was flattened within a week.Still, for Elizabeth, the family home isn’t just a financial asset, it’s a lifetime of memories. She and Herman raised their children there. It’s where their grandchildren and great-grandchildren have visited for decades. Selling simply isn’t on the table."Money ain’t everything," Herman famously told NJ.com in a 2016 interview.BUSINESS OF SPORTS: FOXBUSINESS.COMHerman died in 2019 at age 86, but Elizabeth has continued to uphold his sentiment. Even as Augusta National grows and evolves, the small brick house across from Gate 6-A remains untouched, a quiet reminder that not everyone can be bought.Augusta National’s growth has been staggering. The club has spent over $200 million acquiring 270 acres, according to the Wall Street Journal. This expansion has turned longtime Georgia homeowners into overnight millionaires.The Masters itself is big business. The purse for the 2025 tournament will top $20 million; the winner will take home over $3 million. Some 40,000 visitors make the trip to Augusta each year: the lucky ones, as tickets are distributed via a lottery system that receives about 2 million applicants. That puts the odds of attending the tournament at less than 1%, or roughly 1 in 200. GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HEREMORE FOXBUSINESS.COM SPORTS COVERAGESponsors, including IBM, major golf equipment companies and luxury accessories, like Rolex watches, leverage the tournament’s prestige to showcase their brands.Yet amid all the money and power, one woman’s quiet defiance remains a thorn in Augusta National’s side.With thousands of cars now parked where her neighbors’ homes once stood, Elizabeth Thacker’s house is one of the last remaining structures in the neighborhood. It might be small compared to the grandeur of Augusta National, but it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.This publication is a FOX Business update of the story published in April 2024.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei FOX Business Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei FOX Business