Jon Rahm helped Thomas Detry leave Middle East. Now, they’re tied for LIV Hong Kong lead

Thomas Detry might not be at LIV Golf Hong Kong this week without the help of Jon Rahm.

Detry was one of eight LIV players who were stranded in the United Arab Emirates at the start of the week as the United States and Israel began attacking Iran. As GOLF’s Alan Bastable first reported, Rahm arranged a charter flight to help get Detry and seven others out of the Middle East. That voyage included a drive from Dubai to Muscat, Oman, where they boarded the jet that Rahm chartered. Detry and the others arrived in Hong Kong midday Wednesday.

After three rounds at Fanling Golf Club, Detry finds himself atop the leaderboard at 17 under, tied with Harold Varner III and the man who was essential in getting him to Hong Kong.

“If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I’d be there,” Detry said after his Saturday 66 at LIV Golf Hong Kong of Rahm. “It’s in a way a little bit funny that way.”

Detry noted that he booked an Emirates flight to Hong Kong that ended up getting in late Wednesday night, so he could have potentially arrived without Rahm’s generosity. But that was an unknown at the time, and he’s thankful that Rahm was willing and able to help out.

“I’ve got to pay that plane back, so I’d better play well, hopefully to be able to pay that back. That was incredibly generous from Jon, with all the uncertainty,” Detry said on Friday after his second round. “That was incredible of Jon to put on that plane, and it seems like he’s always there on top of the leaderboard, so you know if you’re playing well, you’re always going to have to fight with Jon anyway.”

Rahm’s Legion XIII teammates, Caleb Surratt and Tom McKibbin, were among the eight players stranded, along with Detry, Lee Westwood, Adrian Meronk, Sam Horsefield and Anirban Lahiri. For Rahm, it was an easy assist to give to friends and teammates who needed help.

“The way I see it is it’s simply my duty,” Rahm said on Saturday. “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. I remember telling Caleb earlier in the week, ‘How about you forget about playing the tournament and we focus on getting you to safety and then we’ll see if you can get to Hong Kong.’ With the ever-changing environment, it looked kind of dark for a second. For a second, at one point, if they went through a different extraction plan, they were going to go to Europe. I was trying to help people in Spain to get them set up to practice in Spain. It looked like coming here was going to be hard.

“But yeah, here they are. Never thought they would be able to come. It’s amazing that so many of them are all safe, and that’s the most important thing.”

This is the third straight LIV event that Rahm has entered Sunday in contention. He lost the opener in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to Elvis Smylie and watched as Anthony Kim burst past him at LIV Golf Adelaide to win his first tournament in 16 years. Rahm hasn’t won a LIV event as an individual since LIV Chicago in September of 2024.

On Sunday, he’ll look to end that streak by besting Detry, who might not even be teeing it up this week if not for Rahm’s generous assist.

“I think we’re just going to have a nice, competitive, fun round tomorrow,” Detry said. “We’ll see who prevails.”