NEWS

Restoration Hardware (RH) rode into their first match of the Silver Air Pacific Coast Open on August 16, at Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club in Carpinteria, California, with confidence having just won the USPA America Cup the previous weekend defeating Farmers & Merchants Bank 11-9. With two wins of the Pacific Coast Open under their belts, RH is leaving nothing to chance in the hopes of claiming the title in 2018.

The five team, three-week tournament follows an everyone plays everyone format with four of the five teams advancing to the semifinal round. RH emerged as the dominant team with a blemish free 2-0 record, their second victory coming from a narrow win over Lucchese 13-12. Brothers Facundo Obregon and Geronimo Obregon* put on a show with their handy stick work and brotherly competition throughout the game. Geronimo Obregon, rated at 4-goals, has been working hard to capitalize on the team’s chemistry. “I think we have a good rhythm as a team and are reading each other well on the field. Iñaki [Laprida] has been very accurate from the penalty line and I try and put as many goals on the board from the field as I can. We played them close today, the score was within one or two most of the game.”

Farmers & Merchants Bank (FMB) recorded their first victory of the tournament against Sol de Agosto after beginning with a bye in the first round of competition. Nico Escobar kicked off the scoring for Sol de Agosto, stepping up to the penalty line and accurately sending the ball through the posts twice in the first chukker of play. Tomy Alberdi* answered back in the following chukker with a forceful penalty goal. Scoring bounced back and forth between Sol de Agosto and FMB, each scoring to match their opponent. The early two-goal lead created by Sol de Agosto held through the end of chukker two.

Farmers & Merchants Bank hit their stride in the third, with each member of the team scoring to bring their total to six goals and tying the match up after a goal each by Paco de Narvaez and Escobar. Alberdi dominated the fourth chukker, opening up the game and scoring three times from the field. The remainder of the game was fast, open and evenly matched, but Alberdi’s three-goal addition held FMB above Sol de Agosto 11-9.

Lucchese tallied their first win of the tournament against Klentner Ranch with a win 10-8 on Friday, July 16. Lucchese took a quick lead in the first chukker, outscoring Klentner Ranch 2-0. They fell behind in the second as Remy Muller*, Mariano Obregon and Jesse Bray* each added a point for Klentner Ranch, pushing them ahead 3-2. Klentner Ranch maintained their one-goal advantage for the next chukker with both teams scoring twice before the half. Players on both sides struggled to score in the fourth. A single goal from Facundo Obregon off of a Penalty 2 tied the score at five goals each. Fouls continued to bog down play over the next two chukkers. Of the teams’ combined eight goals scored in the fourth and fifth chukker, six came from the Penalty 2 line. A final goal from the field by Facundo Obregon eased Lucchese ahead of Klentner Ranch 10-8.

The tournament continues on Wednesday with two games, RH vs. Klentner Ranch at 5:00pm ET and Lucchese vs. Sol de Agosto at 7:00pm ET. Games will be livestreamed by the USPA Polo Network on uspolo.org.

*Geronimo Obregon, Tomas Alberdi, Remy Muller and Jesse Bray are members of Team USPA. Team USPA is a USPA program designed to enhance and grow the sport of polo in the United States by identifying young, talented American players and providing mentored training and playing opportunities leading to a pool of higher rated amateur and pro players and the resultant giveback to the sport of polo.

All photos ©David Lominska