« South African Open White Out »

Cutter and Buck man Darren Fichardt of South Africa is white from head to toe as he escapes a waste area during the fourth round at the South African Open (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images Europe)

As temperatures plummet and a thick blanket of gleaming white snow covers the courses here in Canada on this day of the winter solstice, Chapeau Noir's eyes turn to the summery climes for inspiration. This week we turn our gaze towards the fairways of Pearl Valley Golf Club in South Africa, host of the South African Open.

While Chapeau Noir bundles up in layers of Gortex and fleece to simply retrieve the daily mail, the dog days of summer have most certainly arrived in the Southern Hemisphere.

The summer weather in South Africa gave those in the field this week at the South African Open an exemption from the 'don't-wear-white-after-labour-day' rule, as yards and yards of moisture wicking bright white polyester created copious amounts of glare for South African Open spectators, and copious amounts of hope for those of us enduring the darkest day of the year.

Among those teasing the northerners with summer whites were Darren Fichardt, pictured at right, along with Michiel Bothma, James Kingston, and white mock-neck wearing Fredrik Andersson-Hed, who could have borrowed third-round leader Pablo Martin's footwear to complete his look, as Martin oddly paired red-laced / red-swooshed Nike's with his blue and khaki attire during the final round. Odd.

Winning golfer Richard Ramsay of Scotland looked sleek in his grey-blue Adidas ensemble, but for Chapeau Noir, Indian golfer Shiv Kapur won the day with his well put together Hugo Boss look.

Impeccable!