Several LIV Golf players based in or traveling through the Middle East experienced travel delays to this week’s tournament amid ongoing conflict in the region, though all remain on the tee sheet and are expected to compete.
Eight players who were in the Middle East practicing ahead of this week’s LIV event in Hong Kong, which begins Thursday, had initially been unable to get out as flights were canceled and airports closed following joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran on Saturday and retaliatory attacks by Iran on Israel and U.S. facilities in the region. The X outlet Flushing It reported that those players were Laurie Canter, Thomas Detry, Sam Horsfield, Anirban Lahiri, Tom McKibbin, Adrian Meronk, Caleb Surratt and Lee Westwood.
But LIV confirmed that the league and its teams were in constant communication with the players and provided support to them and their families to ensure safe travel to Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, Golf.com’s Alan Bastable reported that seven of the players, all but Canter, had been able to fly out of Oman on a private flight commissioned by Jon Rahm, who captains the Legion XIII team that includes McKibbin and Surratt, who had both been among those prepping in Dubai since competing in last month’s event in Australia. Citing an anonymous source, Bastable added that those players took ground transport from Dubai to the Oman border, then caught another transport to the airstrip, where they departed at 3:02 p.m. ET, 12:02 a.m. local time Wednesday in Oman.
McKibbin told Golf Channel later Wednesday that he had arrived in Hong Kong while all eight players were listed on the Round 1 groupings provided by LIV.
The LIV players weren’t the only professional athletes stranded in Dubai. Several ATP players, including star Daniil Medvedev, wrapped up the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Sunday. Medvedev won by forfeit due to injury.
“No one knows when we will be able to take off,” Medvedev told the outlet Bolshe! on Sunday. “That is, it’s not clear whether [airspace closures] will last long or not. Therefore we are just waiting to see, let’s say, what will happen in the next hours and days.”
The ATP said Monday in a statement, “The health, safety and wellbeing of our players, staff and tournament personnel is our priority. … At this stage, travel arrangements remain subject to ongoing assessment in line with airline operations and official guidance. We will continue to provide appropriate support to ensure players and their teams can safely depart when conditions allow.”
The U.S. Department of State has urged U.S. citizens to leave the region using available commercial transportation “due to serious safety risks.” A CNN report added that while some flights have left airports in “U.S.-friendly Persian Gulf states,” including U.A.E., the situation remains fluid as a “wide corridor of airspace over the Middle East remained closed on Tuesday.” Both Dubai hubs as of Tuesday were operating at limited capacity.
LIV had multiple reserves either on site or flying in just in case some players were unable to make it.
