Annika Ôstberg is one stroke ahead of reigning champion Peter Masters after two rounds
 
"I think that the championship will be determined on the whites (greens). The whites are very hard and it is important to decide whether the ball should be chipped or rolled into the white. The play has more to do with normal golf than I expected, which is consistent with the favorites being in the lead after todays play. But whether Peter Masters or I will win tomorrow has more to do with luck than anything else." Annika Östberg.
 

The challenge of the 9th hole
On practice rounds yesterday, returning champion Peter Masters employed a sneeky trick on the 9th hole. Instead of driving down the fairway, he successfully put the ball directly over an iceberg and closer to the white. Today, however, his luck did not continue. Golfers watched as Mr. Masters climb the iceberg to located his ball. Jonathon Brown had similar misfortune when chipping onto the 5th hole white. The ball was placed brilliantly to fall short of the hard, icy surface and then role towards the hole. But when the ball touched the ground, it hit a solid piece of ice and bounce back half the distance of the direction it had come.
 
The 4th hole on a small flowice
Accordingto the course designer, it might well be the whites that determine the result of the championship. The 4th hole white, for example, is placed on a broken piece of flow ice that has pushed itself from the normal layer of sea ice and created an organic decline to the hole. It's surface, a firmly packed layer of snow, is also much different than other sparkling sheets of ice.
 

Official opening
At 09.30 Jens Lars Fleischer, the mayor of Uummannaq officially declared the World Ice Golf Championship open.
 

Great enthusiasm
"It's is fun, fun, fun!! And there's sun from morning to evening in an ice landscape that is beyond imagination." Michael Domberger and Rudolf Ruter from Germany have tried a lot of different golf courses around the world, but the ice golf course here in Ummannaq is uncomparable with courses in any other place. "It is so beautiful - we are just waiting for somebody to tell us to wake up!" The play is not as difficult as we thought it would be. We need to find a special technique on the greens, because they are so hard. Finding the ball is actually the most difficult part because this year the layer of snow on the ice is a little thicker as we can understand that it was last year
 

Peter Masters defends his world championship title
 
Sunburnt golfers in light clothes
Although mosst golfers came equipped to battle the elemnets in expedition quality clothing, most golfers are donning fleeces, light gloves, and sunglasses to protect them from the mild cold and the brilliant sunshine.
 
Where are the polar bears?
That is one of the frequent questions from the journalists. Although polar bear danger is not a concern for the golfers, a polar bear was shot only 60 kilometres from Uummannaq a day before the competition began. A young hunter was out hunting seals and whales when he caught eye on a polar bear coming down from the north. Last year 5 polar bears were shot in the area of Uummannaq. Their range, normally, is farther north.
 
Uummannaq has the best dogsledge driver
3 dogsledges from the Uummannaq Fjord were between the five best at the Greenlandic Dogsledge Race that was held on March 25 in Aasiaat.The winner was Edvard Samuelsen from the area of Uummannaq. 39 dogsledges and about 500 dogs took part in this year's championship. Next year the Greenlandic championship will take place in Uummannaq on the last Saturday in March.
 
Continuing the tradition
Also today, on the other side of the Uummannaq island, 30 sledges, driven by the youth of this village of 1500, competing on a 17 kilometer course that took drivers, sledges, and dogs, around a host of icebergs. Upon completion of this 1 hour race, fathers and mothers met their children at the finish line with raw meat for the dogs and candy for the children. 200 villagers showed up to show support for the children of their community.
 

 

Annika Östberg wins the second World Ice Golf Championship
 
Annika Östberg, the 31 year old school teacher and self-proclaimed professional amateuer from Denmark won the second annual World Ice Golf Championship. With 10 year's on the national team and numerous national titles, she beat defending champion Peter Masters by 7 strokes in four rounds of ice golf on the Uummannaq fjord. She managed this even though her golfing companion, Kai Hartmeyer golf a record round of 35 and defending champion Peter Masters eagled the last hole.
 

"It's great! It's been incredibly good. First of all the nature but also the play. It has been more difficult than I thought it would be. Although the conditions might make for inconsistent standings, those with the lowest handicaps were still the leaders at the end . What is important is that It was also a delight to beat all the male participants. I had a conservative strategy for the course on all the rounds. I actually played like a chicken. But this was stable and allowed for my consistent scores. All my rounds have been under 40. While Peter Masters took chances by driving sometimes directly over the icebergs.
 

Peter Masters, tanned face and smiles, lost gracefully and spoke kindly of the winner. "It's been great fun to defend my title here in Greenland and I hope that I have helped make it a wonderful Ice Golf Championship. I am pleased to be second. Annika deserves to win - she played a superb game of golf. It's been fun to be in the lime-light for a year. As the first ice golf championship winner, I've made several radio and television interviews.
 

Lifted Atop a Dogsled
After thanking the Greenlandic people of Uummannaq for allowing their nature to be used for such a spectacular golf course, Annika was given the soap-stone scultured trophy by Mayor Jens Lars Fleischer and lifted atop a traditional dogsled. Sponsor Drambuie offered a celebration toast drinking Drambuie from mugs made from ice and standing around the icebar. Children from the town were offered candy and lemonade.
 
Sun, sun, and sun again!
The weather has shown it's absolutely best side on both tournament days. With the sun high, no wind, and with temperatures at minus 2, the golfers had ideal conditions.

 

The ball wasn't easy to find in the layer of 10 centimetres snow
 
Memory at the bottom of Uummannaq Fjord
After the participants leave Uummanaq and the golf course has melted into the sea, there will still be a memory in the few balls that have been lost, and will eventually make it to the bottom of the Uummannaq fjord. Whales and seals might watch as brightly colored balls fall slowly to the sea floor.