Several golfers on the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour are currently stranded in the Middle East ahead of this week’s event in Hong Kong.
With air travel halted in the region amid joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran and that country’s retaliatory strikes, a reported eight golfers are now currently stuck in Dubai.
Lee Westwood, Laurie Canter, Thomas Detry, Sam Horsfield, Anirban Lahiri, Tom McKibbin, Adrian Meronk and Caleb Surratt were practicing in the United Arab Emirates ahead of this week’s tour stop in Hong Kong are now unable to leave the country, according to a social media account, Flushing It Golf.
Surratt, who has been traveling with his wife, contacted Golf Channel in a text message to say they are doing fine following Iranian attacks in the UAE over the weekend.
‘And then [the] world just came undone on Saturday,’ Surratt said. ‘It was terrifying. But since then, it’s been OK. It was bad Sunday and Monday here with missile interceptions, but all day today was fine.’
By Tuesday, he said, life in the UAE had returned to normal with ‘people walking around and such.’
LIV Golf’s Caleb Surratt was traveling in Dubai with his wife when the Iranians attacked
A black plume of smoke rises from a warehouse at the industrial area of Sharjah City in the United Arab Emirates following reports of Iranian strikes in Dubai
Surratt is hoping to find his way out of Dubai and onto Hong Kong by early Wednesday morning, he told Golf Channel.
Currently the US Department of State is advising Americans to leave the region via commercial transportation, but that has proven difficult with airspace over the Middle East largely closed to airlines.
LIV’s next event in Hong Kong begins Thursday.
The Daily Mail has sought comment from LIV Golf spokespeople.
Meanwhile, some tennis players such as Daniil Medvedev were given additional shelter after they were left stranded following the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
On Saturday, Iran launched a revenge strike of hundreds of missiles and suicide drones at Dubai after the assassination of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
