opensched1105th US OPEN POLO CHAMPIONSHIP 2009
HUNGRY TEAMS TO BRING NEW CHAMPION

In 2009 Crab Orchard the reigning US Open Champion for the past two years is gone.  So too, is the stated “King” of polo Adolfo Cambiaso.  Now the time has come for a new champion and a new “King”.  Who will it be?

An eight team field is entered this year and although the team names remain the same there are many new faces poised and ready to enter their name as champion on the oldest and most prestigious polo trophy in the United States.

Four men came together as one in the 2008 Argentine Open to unseat Cambiaso’s La Dolfina team and in 2009 they are all competing against each other to gain yet another title in the United States.  The brothers Pieres, Facundo and Gonzalito, have joined forces on the Audi squad.  Juan Martin Nero who was also named MVP in the British Open is playing with Lechuza Caracas and Pablo MacDonough who won MVP honors at Sotogrande, Spain has joined the Orchard Hill quartet.  These four, along with Mariano Aguerre of White Birch, should bring some of the greatest excitement and toughest competition the game has seen in recent times.

With these top five will be other great names like Astrada, Eduardo and Nacho on Las Monjitas,  Lucas Criado on Orchard Hill, and Matias Magrini rejoining Pony Express.   All currently rated at nine goals but have been 10 goals in the U.S. or other countries.

Two teams have elected to put together a more balanced attack by incorporating more six, seven, or eight goal players.  Zacara has Carlos Gracida, Jeff Hall, and Magoo Laprida all rated at eight and completes its squad with Lyndon Lea as the front man.  Black Watch is potentially the underdog yet it has a foursome of very equally rated players.  Sugar Erskine rated seven, Fred Mannix rated six, Luis Escobar rated seven and Nacho Figueras at six goals could stand in the way of anyone trying to triumph as they should be playing like the musketeers “All for one and one for all”.

Las Monjitas and White Birch are the only two in the field to ever win the US Open.  White Birch did it in 2005 after finishing as the runner-up in 2004, 1997, 1995, and 1994.  Las Monjitas was the 2008 runner-up after claiming the title in 2006.  Both of these teams have had line-up over-halls since those victories.  White Birch, has kept Aguerre and Peter Brant and added Jeff Blake last year’s MVP with Crab Orchard and Pancho Bensadon who was the MVP in 2004.  Las Monjitas has added former American 10 goaler, Adam Snow to complete the Astrada’s and Camilo Bautista.

Two teams definitely enter into the, “Could 2009 be it?” category.  Lechuza Caracas was the runner-up in 2003 and Orchard Hill has climbed the hill three times, 2006, 2002, and 2001 only to be turned away in the final.  Orchard Hill’s Steve Van Andel saw the potential in MacDonough last year and signed him along with Criado and then rounded his team with one of the games toughest competitors Hector Galindo.  This could be the year that Orchard Hill finally reaches the summit.  Lechuza, however, has a worldwide MVP in Nero and a practiced team of Victor Vargas, Sapo Caset and Nicolas Espain.  It is this well rounded, seasoned and practiced team that could also be the one.

1999 was the last time that Pony Express made it into the finals only to fall to five time champion Outback Steakhouse.  This year they are bringing the same team that fought hard in 2008 with a year’s worth of practice now behind them.  With Magrini, the former 10, is Bob Daniels, David Pelon Stirling and hometown favorite Nicholas Roldan.  Having played together before and with very capable players Pony Express may end their 10 year drought.

Finally, will it be Audi?  Facundo Pieres, Gonzalito Pieres, Nicolas Pieres all led by Marc Ganzi bring a family name that dominated the sport of polo in the 1980’s when the fathers of the Pieres boys played for White Birch and were almost unstoppable.  Today, these young men have amassed a string of titles, championships and victories that have continued the family tradition.  Tradition, sportsmanship and the will to win definitely put Audi in the Could Be Category.

Who will it be?  Sunday, April 26, 2009, 3:00 PM, International Polo Club Palm Beach to know for sure.

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