Ironically, This Former Nuclear Missile Operator Is Playing In CareerBuilder Challenge

Rick Arnett / Jan. 16th, 2018

If you remember War Games, there was a scene where two military personnel were going through the scary drill of launching nuclear missiles. And, by now, most know about the mistaken missile alerts in Hawaii on Saturday. It’s a scenario that no one wants to experience–although it was reported yet another erroneous alert was sent in Japan.

Well, ironically, a former nuclear missile operative is playing in the CareerBuilder Challenge this week in La Quinta, CA when Tom Whitney received a sponsor’s exemption into the event. GolfWorld.com’s John Strege has the account of Whitney’s former life as a man who literally had the world’s fate at his fingertips.

“I was one of a two-man crew that sits in a harden bunker underground hooked up to our nuclear missiles,” Whitney said. “Our job would be to launch the missiles if we received the codes. The codes never came. Our day-to-day duties were routine maintenance, just day-to-day readiness.”

The job “placed him in command and control [of] our nation’s nuclear weapons, where he was in charge of coordinating routine and emergency maintenance, exercises, tests, inspections, and ultimately launching the ICBMs under direction of the President.”

Whitney, 28, played the Web.com Tour last year, though was unable to secure a PGA Tour card, earning only $49,856 in 15 starts. He made his PGA Tour debut via a sponsor’s exemption in the Shriners Hospital for Children Open last October and missed the cut.