Jon Rahm arranges private jet to rescue stranded LIV Golf players from Dubai

Jon Rahm commissioned a private jet to ensure multiple LIV Golf players could reach Hong Kong from Dubai.

A number of players risked missing the third LIV Golf event of the season due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Getty

Dubai has been among the countries affected by the United States and Israel’s military campaign against Iran – with flights grounded since February 28.

It is understood Lee Westwood, Laurie Canter, Thomas Detry, Sam Horsfield, Anirban Lahiri, Tom McKibbin, Adrian Meronk and Caleb Surratt had all scrambling to exit the country.

According to Golf.com, LIV Golf organisers were considering flying their players to Hong Kong via London, making what would usually be a routine seven-hour journey now a 24-hour-plus experience.

However, reports claim Rahm stepped in to save the day with his own private jet.

All of the stranded players – with the exception of Canter – are believed to have taken ground transport from Dubai to the Oman border.

From there, buses transported them to an airstrip, where Rahm’s plane was waiting for them.

In a report from the South China Morning Post, a LIV Golf source described the operation as ‘a coordinated effort between the league and the teams’ after ‘every option’ had been explored.

Two of the golfers stuck in limbo – McKibbin and Surratt – play for Rahm’s Legion XIII team.

“The only thing that matters is that people are safe,” the source added.

Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho is thought to have been on standby alongside several other reserves in case the players could not make it.

Getty

LIV Golf’s Hong Kong event starts in less than 24 hours – at 1.15pm local time on Thursday – after the league reverted to a more traditional four-day format this season.

Kim Possible

The Saudi-breakaway league will look to capitalise on the momentum generated by Anthony Kim’s stunning win at LIV Golf Adelaide last month.

Kim, a former PGA Tour winner who emerged from more than a decade in the wilderness to join LIV Golf, took down Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau to claim his first professional victory in 16 years.

It happened at what many consider to be LIV’s most successful project in front of a raucous Aussie crowd at The Grange Golf Club.

Even Tiger Woods, a fierce critic of LIV Golf, acknowledged the comeback story at a recent press conference.

The 15-time major winner said: “To see him struggle in life and didn’t really want to play golf, didn’t really want to be part of golf, and for him to come all the way back and for him to win and to be as devoted as he is to his family, it’s a story in which … you just have to wrap your heart around it because of the struggles.”