Ballistic missile threat at Hawaii Open

There was panic and genuine fear amongst PGA Tour players, when an alert of an imminent missile strike was wrongly issued in Hawaii.

Justin Thomas said he was prepared for the end.

"I sat on my couch and opened up the sliding door and watched TV and listened to music," Thomas said.

"I was like 'there's nothing I can do. If it's my time, it's my time'," continued the defending champion.

"I was really scared there for probably three or four minutes," he added.

Thomas did not receive the original message but was made aware of it by fellow professional Tom Lovelady.

The alert turned out to be a false alarm, but it took a full 38 minutes for a retraction to be issued.

Thomas then tweeted: "To all that just received the warning along with me this morning...apparently it was a 'mistake' - hell of a mistake!!

"Haha glad to know we'll all be safe."

Fellow American John Peterson also tweeted this:

He then added:

State Governor David Ige issued an apology, saying an employee had pressed the wrong button, and the US government has now announced a full investigation.

But for those 38-minutes there was a genuine fear that a nuclear missile strike was about to hit the island. That's an epic fail by anyone's standards! 

Related:

Anti-ballistic missile system deployed on South Korean golf course