Can’t get enough of Jon Rahm’s Masters victory? We’ve got some more for ya.
On Thursday afternoon, the Masters released an epic, 1.8 billion-pixel image of Rahm’s winning moment on its website, granting golf fans the ability to see every detail (and every face) involved in the championship celebration. Even the people who couldn’t stand tall enough to see the moment themselves.
By clicking through the link to the website (found here and also embedded in the tweet below), fans can zoom in and out on even the most granular details of the winning moment, spotting faces of fans, players, caddies and even far-off well-wishers.
The image, the internet tells us, is called a “gigapixel” — a unique type of photography style that produces images containing a billion pixels or more (roughly 100 times the size of the average cell phone image). Gigapixel images are created by stitching together several smaller pictures of the same scene in photo software like Adobe Photoshop. In previous years, gigapixel-specific photographers have worked to grab similar images from major sporting events like the Super Bowl, Rose Bowl, College Football Playoff and NCAA Tournament.
Rahm’s Masters moment weighs in a stunning 1.8 billion pixels, per the tournament website, almost the size of two typical gigapixel images. The image spans from the far side of the 18th fairway in either direction and well beyond the putting surface, capturing the full breadth of the Augusta National clubhouse in the background of the championship celebration.
The image represents just the latest effort by the Masters at modernizing the tournament experience for those following from home. In recent years, the tournament — which has been famously slow to adapt to certain entertainment innovations — has found itself on the bleeding edge of the sports tech movement. Today, the Masters app and website rank as the gold standard for sports streaming experiences, while the tournament broadcast product has undergone a series of enhancements itself. Last weekend, the Masters became the first major championship to feature a “walk-and-talk” interview segment during play, interviewing the likes of Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Max Homa during the early-round coverage.
Of course, the gigapixel image is small potatoes next to those other adjustments; representing little more than a really high-quality photo. But for those who can’t get enough of Masters week, it’s one more reason to spend some time scrolling on the tournament website. Four days after Jon Rahm’s green jacket ceremony, that qualifies as a win.
