WHAT’S HOT

NOT WHAT’S

HOT BROOKS KOEPKA

THEY used to say this guy was boring. This was his take the other day when asked about his rivalry with Rory McIlroy: ‘I’ve been out here for, what, five years. Rory hasn’t won a major since I’ve been on the PGA Tour. So I just don’t view it as a rivalry.’ Boring has never been so interesting.

COCO GAUFF

IN winning the Linz Open on Sunday, the 15-year-old became the youngest player to win a WTA title in 15 years. This has reopened the conversation about the rule that prevents under 16s playing more than 10 events in a season. The sense in that law was clear in her 59-minute, 1st-round defeat in Luxembourg on Thursday. No one wants another burnt out prodigy.

LUOL DENG

ONE of the finest and least heralded sportsmen to emerge from Britain. He signed a symbolic one-day contract with the Chicago Bulls this week before retiring. He made 902 appearances in 15 years in the NBA, twice being an NBA All-Star. One of the few to truly crack America.

NOT LEWIS HAMILTON

THE points he makes about the environment are valid, and good on him for that. The only issue, though, is how much of that message gets drowned in the roar of those V6 engines, and how much change can he truly leverage when the Formula One circus leaves such a hefty carbon footprint?

SIR MO FARAH

Ahead of a week in which the ugliness of racism was on full show in Bulgaria, Farah implied the media were questioning him with a prejudiced agenda. He then followed those slurs with his slowest time for a marathon in Chicago. Brain and feet are not currently in gear, it would seem.

LEE ANN WALKER

THE good old rules of golf, in particular the one brought in that prevents a caddie standing behind their golfer as they line up a shot. Walker, in her first event for seven years, didn’t know and so ended up with a 58-stroke penalty in two rounds at the Senior LPGA Championships. ‘Now that I don’t play any more, I don’t watch golf,’ she explained.