The US Open Polo Championship is an annual polo championship in the United States. It is organized since 1904 by the

United States Polo Association The United States Polo Association (USPA) is the national governing body for the sport of polo in the United States. Introduction Established in 1890, by David Grubbs the USPA provides resources to over 4,500 individual members and 250 polo club ...

(USPA).

History

The tournament was first played on September 20, 1904 at

Van Cortlandt Park Van Cortlandt Park is a park located in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. Owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, it is managed with assistance from the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance. The park, the city's third-lar ...

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. At the first game the Wanderers defeated the

Meadowbrook Freebooters The Meadowbrook Polo Club (originally styled as the "Meadow Brook Club"), located in Old Westbury, New York, is the oldest continuously operating polo club in the United States, first established in 1881.Marie, Kim (August 27, 201The Power of The ...

. After the inaugural U.S. Open in 1904, the tournament was not played again until 1910, when it grew to include six teams. It resumed at Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island, where it was played for several years before relocating to what became its longtime home, Meadowbrook Polo Club in Old Westbury, New York. In 1954, the U.S. Open moved to Oak Brook, Illinois, where it remained for 22 years, followed by an eight-year stint at Retama in San Antonio, Texas. In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, the tournament circulated among several clubs throughout the United States, including Eldorado, Lexington, Palm Beach and Royal Palm. In 2004, marking one hundred years since the tournament's inception, the U.S. Open Polo Championship relocated to the International Polo Club Palm Beach, where it has been ever since. Unlike its counterpart the Argentine Open Polo Championship in Argentina, no 40 goal team has ever competed for the U.S. Open Polo Championship. Originally there were no team handicap limits for the U.S. Open, but limits were eventually put in place by the

in the post-WWII era (thereby ending the true "Open" status of the tournament). During most of the post-WWII era the handicap limit per team was 26 goals. In 2019, the

lowered the maximum handicap for the tournament to 22 goals per team in an effort to foster increased tournament participation.

Trophy

The U.S. Open Polo Championship trophy was designed by artist Sally James Farnham. The silver cup features horses and riders in relief around the top perimeter and bottom bowl of the cup with rearing horses rising from the base of the cup.

Statistics

The individual record holder with the most US Open Polo Championships is Guillermo ("Memo") Gracida Jr with 16 total championships. The individual record holder with the most US Open Polo Championships in a row is Guillermo ("Memo") Gracida Jr with 6 championships in a row (1992 through 1997). The individuals with the second most US Open Polo Championships in a row (four in a row) are Jack Murphy (1964-1967), Ray Harrington Jr. (1966-1969), and Guillermo ("Memo") Gracida Jr (1987-1990). The two individuals with the greatest length of time between their first victory and their latest victory are Guillermo ("Memo") Gracida Jr (1977 to 2004) and Michael V. ("Mike") Azzaro (1986 to 2013) both with 27 years between first and last wins. The individual record holder with the most US Open Polo Championship runner-up appearances is Thomas "Tommy" Hitchcock, Jr. with 9 total runner-up appearances. Only 5 times in history has an identically formed team won the U.S. Open two years in row. Those teams were: Cooperstown (1912 & 1913), Meadow Brook (1919 & 1920), Greentree (1935 & 1936), Old Westbury (1937 & 1938), and Zacara (2012 & 2013). Zacara was the only team to do it in the team-handicap-limit era. No identically formed team has ever won the U.S. Open three years in a row. The Championship has been won four times by non-U.S. based teams. The foreign winners were:

Ranelagh Ranelagh ( , ; ) is an affluent residential area and urban village on the Southside of Dublin, Ireland in the postal district of D06. History The district was originally a village known as Cullenswood just outside Dublin, surrounded by lande ...

from England (1910), the Argentine Polo Federation team (1922), the Argentine Santa Paula team (1931), and Mexico (1946). On April 12, 1998, Nic Roldan became the youngest player to ever win the Championship. He was 15 years and 129 days old. On April 18, 2021, Adolfo "Poroto" Cambiaso Jr. became the second youngest player to ever win the Championship. He was 15 years and 143 days old. There are three players who won the U.S. Open while simultaneously holding office as Chairman of the USPA. They were: Louis E. Stoddard (1927),

Elbridge T. Gerry Elbridge Gerry (; July 17, 1744 – November 23, 1814) was an American Founding Father, merchant, politician, and diplomat who served as the fifth vice president of the United States under President James Madison from 1813 until his death in 18 ...

(1940), and William T. Ylvisaker (1972).

Champions

Multiple U.S. Open Polo Championship Winners

Titles by team

Photographs

References

{{reflist Polo competitions in the United States 1904 establishments in New York City Recurring sporting events established in 1904