Ice in their veins

GOLFERS are not, generally, a hardy breed. A rain cloud here, a stiff breeze there and your average Joe will stay under the duvet for another couple of hours; the journeyman pro will consult the order of merit to see if it really is worth his while and the game’s elite will be straight onto their agents to see if they can crank up the Lear Jet engines without upsetting the sponsors.

We're talking seriously spoilt sportsmen here.

So imagine how some of the world's most indulged athletes would react to an entry in the annual Drambuie world ice golf championship, where the venue is a small island called Uummannaq, off Greenland's north-west coast, 600 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, the course is cut from a glacier, the greens are white and polar winds sink to temperatures as low as 50 degrees below zero.