Adam Scott’s not superstitious but he won’t touch Wanamaker Trophy

Adam Scott may have had Yani Tseng in mind when he declined to pose with the hardware that goes to the winner of next week’s PGA Championship.

“I can definitely understand how players would not want to touch or handle a major trophy until they have won it,” Scott told the media on Wednesday, ahead of his 2:10 pm. ET Thursday tee time at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. “But then I’m not superstitious, but if that stuff does exist then I would rather not jinx myself.”

Ah, superstitions and the fear of jinxes, which are as rampant in golf as in all other athletic endeavors. Michael Jordan never took the court without his Tar Heel blue North Carolina shorts under his Bulls uniform. Tiger Woods wears only red and black on Sundays, a habit that dates back to college, when his Stanford golf team donned Cardinal red on the last days of big events.

Reporters asked Scott and several other PGA Tour players if they would pose with the Wanamaker Trophy, a request officials apparently made of the golfers to promote the final major on the men’s 2014 calendar, according to Fatiha Betscher. The answers were as varied as the personalities who play the game.

“It is something similar to when I got invited to go to the Masters and before I had qualified to play. I declined because I felt like the first time I go there is when I am actually going to play,” Scott explained. “I felt like it wasn’t far away from that and that my first Masters experience should be when I get to compete.”

Superstitious or not, Scott dove right in when Australian countryman Geoff Ogilvy presented his 2006 U.S. Open trophy for inspection and admiration.

“I did break that, I guess, superstition thing when Geoff won the U.S. Open,” Scott conceded. “I did drink out of the U.S. Open, but I figured that would be all right.”

No harm, no foul, no jinx, and though it did take seven years, Scott eventually shrugged into his own green jacket in 2013 — though the closest he’s come (along with three missed cuts in eight attempts since) to matching Ogilvy’s feat was a T9 this year.

Rickie Fowler, who’ll go to extremes for kicks, like his planned skydive for sponsor Red Bull or with the Navy SEALS (stay tuned), has no fears that touching a trophy before winning it has any impact on the final outcome of a major.

“I’ve never been a big believer in the jinx thing of that,” said the owner of one tour victory and zero majors, who referred to Phil Mickelson drinking out of the Claret Jug before he won his own in 2013.

Then there are others, like 2011 PGA champ Keegan Bradley, who, according to Fowler, believes “there’s a glow around the Claret Jug that he can’t get within like an inch.

“He can get close to look at it, but we didn’t want to push him into it. Something bad might have happened,” Fowler added. “Some guys have some stronger superstitions than others. I’ve just tried to really just stay away from it and live life a bit.”

Sergio Garcia, who tends to jump in feet first and suffer the repercussions later (fried chicken, anyone?), had yet to try on a green jacket but has gone several rounds with the Jug.

“I remember first time I did it was ‘96, when Tom Lehman won. He kind of handed it to me. So it was really, really nice,” said Garcia, who, like Fowler, will be seeking his first major victory next week at Valhalla. “But, no, I’m really not superstitious about those things. I think that you get what you deserve, and you do what you’re supposed to.”

Despite his bravura, we’re betting Garcia won’t be showing up on the tee of a major in contention in the final round dressed like a canary again. The last time that occurred, he faced Woods at Royal Liverpool in 2006, and we all know what happened after Tiger walked off with the Claret Jug: Woods reportedly texted a friend, “I just bludgeoned Tweety Bird.”

Which may be what Garcia was thinking when he said of the British Open trophy, “I don’t think it’s yellow or things like that. We all have our little things, but I try to think that I’m not too superstitious.”

But about Tseng: Riding high as the No. 1 player in the world, the defending champion of the Kraft Nabisco headed into Sunday’s 2011 finale with a two-shot lead but took an ill-considered detour on her way to the first tee. Tseng lifted the Dinah Shore trophy over her head, striking the traditional winner’s pose. Fast forward to the end of the day and Stacy Lewis was the one taking a dip in Poppie’s Pond, kissing the spoils of victory, and leaving Tseng to wonder about superstitions and jinxes.