Rahm helped Detry get to Hong Kong; now they share LIV lead - ESPN

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 is 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.»

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 that 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 on that plane,» Detry said.

Detry said he had originally been booked on an Emirates flight from Dubai; 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…