LESS THAN ONE WEEK after winning a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Shanshan Feng stood in the first row at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Kevin Durant’s decision to join the NBA’s greatest regular-season team of all time last summer was met with plenty of criticism. But leading the Golden State Warriors to this year’s NBA title while earning Finals MVP honors was supposed to quiet the haters for good and give the star complete vindication.

“Swing Away” is a new golf feature film that begins with Jerry Foltz (as all golf movies ideally should, it says here) in New Jersey and ends with a renowned philosopher’s words recited in Greek and in Greece.

In the run-up to next week’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, few members of the elite field will generate more attention. Which is understandable. Playing in his home town of Southport naturally makes Tommy Fleetwood a person of interest entering the year’s third men’s major.

Upon hearing his former coach and lifelong friend David Leadbetter had just been announced as the PGA of America’s Teacher of the Year, Hall of Fame golfer Nick Price’s reaction was as honest as it was succinct.

Trish Johnson completed a wire-to-wire victory Wednesday in the Senior LPGA Championship, closing with a 1-over 73 to beat Michelle Redman by three strokes in the first-year event.

In a sense, it’s unfair to claim 2017 as a “lost season” for Rory McIlroy. Two majors remain, as do the FedEx Cup (where the 28-year-old is the defending champion) and European Tour’s Race to Dubai culmination.