Legion XIII GC were dealt a huge blow ahead of their semi-final match on Saturday, with their captain, Jon Rahm, forced to withdraw from the tournament due to severe flu symptoms.
On Friday, team-mate, Tyrrell Hatton, replaced Rahm in the press conference, as the announcer at the event stated: "Legion XIII captain, Jon Rahm, is feeling a bit under the weather, he's resting up for tomorrow."
However, it seems that the two-time Major winner was unable to shake off the illness, with Rahm replaced by reserve fill-in John Catlin, who has featured a number of times in 2024 as injury cover for Crusher GC's Charles Howell III.
Just last week, Rahm was getting his hands on LIV Golf's Individual title, as the 29-year-old not only won LIV Golf Chicago by three strokes, but picked up the $18 million top prize, as he outlasted Torque GC's Joaquin Niemann to finish top of the standings.
Now, though, Rahm will not be present at Maridoe Golf Club, with the venue also hit with temperatures that are exceeding over 100-degrees! Speaking on Friday, Legion XIII's Hatton stated: "Well, I think we're all hoping for big crowds tomorrow. Ultimately that gives us a good atmosphere to play golf in, and that's kind of what we all want. We don't want to be walking down the fairways with no one there".
Legion XIII are set to tee it up against Phil Mickelson's HyFlyers GC in the semi-finals, with Hatton revealing that Rahm did have an influence on the decision to pick Mickelson's side in the semi-finals, despite his illness. Speaking on Friday, the 32-year-old stated: "Yeah, so Jon wanted it to try and be a joint decision. Yeah, I spoke to him on the phone and we exchanged a few WhatsApp messages. I know he was watching the golf today".
In response to calling out the HyFlyers, Mickelson responded by saying: "Yeah, they're really a great team (Legion XIII), and I obviously have a lot of respect for Jon Rahm and have been a fan of his for a long time. They're a great team and it's going to be a fun matchup for us. It's an opportunity for us to play such a strong team in the league".
