More On:

new york yankees

Twins’ JA Happ dances around his Yankees exit

Yankees star says season will start on time

Yankees sign former Orioles pitcher to minor-league deal

College coach reveals why Corey Kluber signed with Yankees

Aaron Hicks has not spent his offseason worrying about what moves the Yankees have or haven’t made.

He wasn’t sitting at home stressing out about why they were slow-playing DJ LeMahieu before finally locking him up with a new $90 million contract last week.

Make no mistake, though: The 31-year-old Yankees outfielder has kept a close eye on the goings-on with his team. He’s just been doing it from the golf course.

This week, Hicks — a Southern California native who was a scratch golfer at age 12 and for a while was chasing some of Tiger Woods’ youth records, playing the same courses Woods played when he was a kid — is playing in the celebrity division of the LPGA’s Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in Florida, where he was in second place entering Friday’s second round after shooting an opening-round 69.

Hicks believes he can win this LPGA celebrity event, where he shot four strokes lower than Annika Sorenstam, the retired LPGA star who’s playing in the celebrity division.

“I’ve never played in one of these before,’’ Hicks said. “I’ve played in one (PGA Tour) pro-am and that’s it. It was at Riviera at the Genesis two years ago. This is really fun, because it’s all these guys that I kind of grew up watching play baseball: (John) Smoltz, (Greg) Maddux are out here.’’

Hicks also is enjoying time with his girlfriend, pro golfer Cheyenne Woods, who’s the niece of Tiger Woods. Both live in Scottsdale, Ariz., and they met when Hicks was a guest on Cheyenne Woods’ podcast last January.

Woods, who doesn’t have full status on the LPGA Tour and is not in the Diamond Resorts field, is Hicks’ caddie this week. Hicks last week caddied for Woods in the final round of her runaway victory on the Cactus Tour.

Woods, who said she’s just trying to keep Hicks “loose’’ and help him with course management this week, chronicled a hole-in-one Hicks had on a 303-yard par-4 last week at Silverleaf, his home course in Arizona.

“It’s fun to play with him, but frustrating when he bombs it like that,’’ she told Golfweek.

Asked if he can keep up with Woods, Hicks deferred to her, saying, said, “No, not when she wants to turn it on.’’

Hicks has his eyes on one day participating in the annual American Century celebrity event in Lake Tahoe, which is the unofficial major championship for celebrity golfers. But that’s played in July, which is the middle of baseball season.

“That’s definitely a tournament that I want play,’’ Hicks said. “But a lot of the guys tell me, ‘It’s a great tournament to be a part of, but it only happens when you retire.’ ’’

As stoked as Hicks is about his success in his first celebrity golf event, he’s even more pumped up about the Yankees’ recent moves — particularly the re-signing of LeMahieu.

“I’m extremely fired up, because DJ is a big part of our team,’’ Hicks told The Post by phone from the tournament. “He’s such a big part of the top of our lineup. That’s a guy that we need to have consistently on base giving us opportunities to score runs.

“And, adding (starting pitcher Corey) Kluber was huge for us. He’s a former Cy Young winner and he’s a guy that, if he’s clicking, could be huge part of our team to help us ultimately win the World Series. For us as Yankees players, that’s all we want to do is win the World Series. For us, it’s win or bust, so it’s fun to add someone like that to our team.’’

Asked if he was concerned the Yankees might lose LaMahieu to another team, Hicks said: “Once you get into that kind of stuff, you can just drive yourself crazy. I’m not going to sit here and try to play GM during the offseason. I’m just going to let things happen the way they’re supposed to.’’

Hicks, who has dealt with a series of injuries including an elbow tear that required Tommy John elbow surgery in October 2019, is hoping to remain healthy for a full season for a change in 2021. He pronounced to The Post: “I feel really great. I feel like I’m ready to go for this year. I’ve been training hard to be able to get back to the player I want to be to help this team win and have a bunch of production from the middle of the lineup. That’s what’s what I’m expecting out of myself for this year and that’s what I believe I can do.’’

Share this article:

Source: Read Full Article