IGLEHART CUP
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Iglehart Cup is a national 12- to 16-goal tournament named for Philip L. B. Iglehart. He was steeped in polo culture from a young age as a boy at the Aiken Preparatory School in South Carolina and later at St. Paul's School in New Hampshire and Yale University in Connecticut. Leaving polo after graduation to pursue a business career, Iglehart was already rated 7-goals and after a 20-year hiatus returned to reclaim his old rating, which he held for 13 years. Some of Iglehart’s accomplishments include a U.S. Open Polo Championship (1953), leadership at Meadowbrook Polo Club in Medford, New York, and the creation of Gulfstream Polo Club (Lake Worth, Florida - now defunct).
Inducted into the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame in 1993, Iglehart in not only a Hall of Famer but bears one of the Hall of Fame's highest honors in his name. The Philip Iglehart Award was established in 2001 to acknowledge exceptional lifetime contributions to the sport of polo. Jorie Butler Kent and Susan Stovall were selected as the 2025 inductees.
Traditionally held as a stand-alone USPA-sanctioned tournament in Wellington, Florida, the Iglehart Cup joined the ranks as a national tournament in 2023. Recent champions include Stable Door Polo (2020), Beverly Polo (2022) and Iconica (2023).
The Iglehart Cup will serve as the third qualifying leg of four prestigious national tournaments (Joe Barry Memorial, Ylvisaker Cup, Outback Cup) culminating in the NPC 16-Goal Championship. Qualifiers are played across multiple clubs, with the championship final hosted on Sunday, April 13, at the National Polo Center – Wellington (NPC). Participating clubs include Port Mayaca Polo Club (Okeechobee, Florida) and the Wellington Polo Tour (WPT) led by Patagones Polo Club (Wellington, Florida) and a series of private fields falling under the WPT umbrella.
In accordance with the Tournament Conditions, each team participating in a qualifying event earns points towards eligibility for the championship. Teams that win a qualifier are awarded 25 points, second place teams in a qualifier receive five points and a team that comes in third or fourth place receive one point. To reinforce the idea that all participation is encouraged, players may compete in as many events as they would like on either the same team or on different teams. If a player qualifies on more than one team, that player must choose which team he or she would like to compete with in the Championship, and the other team may use a substitute. Qualifying teams must maintain at least two of their original members in order to play in the championship.
In 2024, BTA (Kelly Beal, Steve Krueger, Ignacio "Nachi" Viana, Alfonso Pieres) faced off against 90210 Polo (Sarah Siegel-Magness, Louis Hine, Jesse Bray, Geronimo Obregon). Despite trailing in the first chukker, a stellar penalty performance from Viana led BTA's comeback to deliver a 10-8 victory.
Continuing 16-goal action hosted by the WPT and Patagones Polo Club, this year's competition will feature a deep field of 12 competitive teams including Joe Barry Memorial victors Zapican BMW and Ylvisaker Cup champions Bientina alongside 90210, Clearwater, ConcordEquityGroup.com, Copperline Farm, Flying H, Los Machitos/El Refugio, Novo, SD Farms, Tonkawa and Willow Bend vying for the title.
Representing Team USPA are Active Members Mackenzie Weisz (Tonkawa) and Lucas Escobar alongside Graduating Member Nicolas "Nico" Escobar (ConcordEquityGroup.com). Team USPA alumni include Jesse Bray and Geronimo Obregon (90120), Santino Magrini (Flying H) and Felipe Viana (Zapican BMW).
Photo: 2024 Iglehart Cup Champions: BTA - Kelly Beal, Steve Krueger, Ignacio "Nachi" Viana, Alfonso Pieres. ©David Lominska
