FARMERS & MERCHANTS BANK AMERICA CUP
Tournament History
The America Cup, formerly known as the 16-Goal Championship, was first played in 1964. Held at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club in Carpenteria, California, for the last several years, 2019 competition will field seven teams. Winning the trophy in 2018, Restoration Hardware broke Farmers & Merchants Bank's three-year streak, which they hope to win back this year. Three members of the winning 2018 team are returning this year with BenSoleimani.com while Geronimo Obregon will be playing with Klentner Ranch. They will be joined by returning teams Lucchese and Sol De Agosto and new teams Santa Clara and FMB Too!
Demonstrating the generational appeal of polo, Santa Clara features three generations of the Escobar family. The competition also features three members of Team USPA, Jesse Bray (Klentner Ranch), Geronimo Obregon (Klentner Ranch) and Tomas Alberdi (BenSoleimani.com). Hot off the heels of a recent victory, FMB Too! will seek to claim their second high-goal title of the season after they edged past BenSoleimani.com in a close 12-11 victory in the Robert Skene Trophy Final.
2018 Maserati of Santa Barbara America Cup Champions: Restoration Hardware - (L to R) Geronimo Obregon, Santi Von Wernich, Ben Solemani, Inaki Laprida. ©David Lominska
