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US President Barack Obama dramatically broke off a round of golf on Monday and rushed back to his rented vacation home followed by an ambulance with lights flashing.
Fears that something might have happened to First Lady Michelle Obama or daughters Malia and Sasha were laid to rest later as it emerged that all the fuss was about the son of a friend of the president's with minor injuries.
"The First Family is fine," White House spokesman Bill Burton said, following the drama which forced Obama to suddenly rush off the links and race home in the presidential motorcade.
An administration official said the child of one of Obama's golfing partners had been hurt in a "run of the mill beach injury" but did not require stitches.
Burton later said that the wounded child was the son of Eric and Cheryl Whitaker -- members of Obama's inner circle -- who was examined and "released from hospital. He is at home playing with his friends and just fine."
By the time that news emerged, Obama was well into his resumed round of golf at the testing Luana Hills Country Club, which winds through a rain forest in a volcanic crater.
