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.”

Rory McIlroy’s weekend at the Arnold Palmer Invitational never got started as he withdrew Saturday afternoon before his tee time with a back injury.

It’s just the second WD of McIlroy’s PGA Tour career. The first came at the 2013 Honda Classic when he was 7 over and cited a toothache.

According to Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis, the World No. 2 tweaked a muscle in his back during a pre-round gym session. After tweaking his back, McIlroy went to the range to hit some balls and see if he could work through it. He ultimately decided not to play. McIlroy told Lewis he might have been able to gut it out, but didn’t want to push it with the major season on the horizon.

McIlroy released the following statement shortly after his WD.

“While warming up in the gym this morning, I felt a small twinge in my back. As I started hitting balls on the range before the round, it worsened and developed into muscle spasms in my lower back. Unfortunately, I’m not able to continue and have to withdraw. I was excited to compete this weekend. I wish the Arnold Palmer Invitational a great finish and look forward to being back next year.”

McIlroy fired a 4-under 68 on Friday to jump into the top 10, but still entered the weekend nine shots behind 36-hole leader Daniel Berger. He is coming off a T2 finish at the Genesis Invitational in his last start. With the Players and the Masters on the horizon, McIroy arrived at Bay Hill feeling confident in the state of his game.

“It feels like it’s in really good shape,” McIlroy said on Wednesday. “I’m really happy with the signs that I saw at Pebble Beach and Riviera. I think I did really well in Strokes Gained: Approach in those two events. I drove the ball pretty well at Riviera. I just couldn’t make a putt for 27 holes. But I put that down to the sort of the very fast, bumpy poa annua. But I was really happy with where my game was coming out of the West Coast, and I’ve kept ticking along the past week and played some golf and I’m excited for these two weeks, I feel like I’m in good shape.”

The career Grand Slam winner is the defending champion at next week’s Players Championship and at the Masters, which is 33 days away. McIlroy told Golfweek’s Adam Schupak that he was “all good” as he left the Bay Hill property.

McIlroy, who defeated J.J. Spaun in a three-hole playoff at last year’s Players, is scheduled to have his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday at 7:45 a.m.