One paleoanthropologist has estimated the handshake is at least seven million years old, while others say the modern version dates back only 3,000 years or more. Which brings us to the handshake tournament host Jack Nicklaus gives to the winner of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, which is timeless.
No one knows when it all began. Nicklaus competed in the early days of his tournament, so he couldn’t sit around and wait for the winner to finish, but after his decorated playing career ended, he decided at some point to park next to the 18th green and watch the action, invariably locking hands with the champion. “It just happened,” he said. “I just thought it was appropriate, so I started doing TV earlier and started going down to the 18th green to greet the winner.”
