HONG KONG (AP) – Thomas Detry was one of eight LIV Golf players stranded in the United Arab Emirates earlier in the week during Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran. He is now tied for first place with Jon Rahm, the man responsible for eliminating them.
“If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would have been there,” Detley said Saturday after shooting a 66 at Hong Kong’s LIV Golf to take a three-way lead with Rahm, 65, and Harold Varner III, 63. “In that sense, it’s kind of interesting.”
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The attack involved more than a dozen neighboring countries in the Middle East and led to flight cancellations. Some of the players live in Dubai, long the center of the UAE’s golf world, while others were there in between LIV events in Australia and Hong Kong.
Golf.com reported that Rahm and his Region XIII team arranged the charter flight through a partnership with the Spaniards and a commercial airline. That required a 450-mile drive from Dubai to Muscat, Oman, to catch an eight-hour flight arriving in Hong Kong at noon on Wednesday.
The other players were Lee Westwood, Sam Horsfield, Adrian Melonke, Tom McKibbin, Caleb Surratt and Anirban Lahiri. Golf.com reported that Laurie Canter arranged her own transportation for her family.
“John was unbelievable on that plane,” Detrie said.
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Detrie said he had originally booked an Emirates flight from Dubai, which departed as scheduled on Wednesday morning and arrived in Hong Kong that evening, “but by Tuesday it was virtually unknown.”
Rahm started the week by refusing to accept a contract from the European Tour waiving fines for playing LIV Golf, but said he considered the act “simply my obligation.”
“I was raised with certain values that if you have the ability and ability to help someone…especially in a scenario like that, my main focus was essentially to get them out of it, and not necessarily play in a tournament,” Rahm said.
“It seemed dark for a moment because the environment was changing all the time,” he said. “But yes, they are here. We didn’t think they could come. It’s amazing that so many people are safe and that’s the most important thing.”
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AP Golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
