HONG KONG – Thomas Detry was among eight players from LIV Golf who were stranded in the United Arab Emirates at the start of the week during Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran. Now he's tied for the lead with Jon Rahm, the player responsible for getting them out.
“If it wasn't for him, I don't think I'd be there,” Detry said Saturday after a 66 in LIV Golf Hong Kong left him in a three-way tie for the lead with Rahm (65) and Harold Varner III (63). “It's in a way a little bit funny that way.”
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The attacks entangled more than a dozen nearby countries in the Middle East, leading to flights being canceled. Some players live in Dubai, long the centerpiece of golf in the UAE, and others were there between LIV events in Australia and Hong Kong.
Golf.com reported Rahm and his Legion XIII team arranged a charter flight through the Spaniard's partnership with a private aviation company. That required a 280-mile drive from Dubai to Muscat, Oman, to catch the eight-hour flight, getting into Hong Kong at midday Wednesday.
The other players were Lee Westwood, Sam Horsfield, Adrian Meronk, Tom McKibbin, Caleb Surratt and Anirban Lahiri. Golf.com said Laurie Canter arranged his own transportation with his family.
“That was incredible of Jon to put (us) on that plane,” Detry said.
Detry said he had originally been booked on an Emirates flight from Dubai — and it left Wednesday morning as scheduled and arrived in Hong Kong that night, but “that was very unknown on Tuesday.”
Rahm, whose week began with him refusing to accept a deal from the European tour that would eliminate fines for playing LIV Golf, said he saw the gesture as “simply my duty.”
“I was raised with certain values, that if you have the ability and capability of helping somebody ... especially in a scenario like that where my main focus essentially was getting them out of there, not necessarily playing a tournament,” Rahm said.
“With the ever-changing environment, it looked kind of dark for a second,” he said. “But yeah, here they are. Never thought they would be able to come. It’s amazing that so many of them are safe and that’s the most important thing.”
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf