The 2026 U.S. Open Polo Championship has reached its decisive week. The four teams that survived Sunday’s mini-quarterfinals at the National Polo Center in Wellington now play the semifinals on Wednesday, April 22, and the winners meet on the championship field on Sunday, April 26 for American polo’s most prestigious trophy.

This is the week Palm Beach’s high-goal season points toward — the one Sunday of the year where the Grandstand fills, the tailgates stretch along the boards, and Chris Fowler’s ESPN call frames the sport for a national audience.

How the Semifinal Field Was Set

The tournament’s 11-team field narrowed on Sunday, April 19, when the mini-quarterfinals produced two of the most dramatic matches of the season.

In the afternoon’s first game, Pilot — the defending USPA Gold Cup champion — outlasted DUS 13–10. The match was close through five chukkers before Pilot unloaded a 6–1 sixth chukker that put the game away. Curtis Pilot’s team heads into the semifinals with a 3–2 tournament record and the momentum of a Gold Cup title already on the mantel.

The late match between La Dolfina Tamera and La Dolfina Scone delivered the week’s headline moment and its scare. Tamera edged Scone 12–11 in a match briefly halted when Scone patron David Paradice lost consciousness on the field and was attended to before being cleared. Alejandro Poma, playing alongside Adolfo Cambiaso on Tamera’s lineup, delivered the late goals that pushed the team into the semifinals and closed the door on Scone’s run.

The April 22 Semifinal Matchups

The draws are set:

• 11:00 AM — Coca Cola (3–1) vs. Pilot (3–2)
• 4:00 PM — BTA (3–1) vs. La Dolfina Tamera (3–2)

Both semifinals run at the National Polo Center’s main field in Wellington, with the morning draw favoring the two teams that came through league play unbeaten in three starts. The Coca Cola–Pilot match in particular has the feel of a final itself: Coca Cola handed Pilot its only league loss on April 8 (15–13), and a semifinal rematch ten days later gives Pilot its chance to return the favor and defend the Gauntlet momentum it carried into the tournament.

The BTA–Tamera fixture is the one that insiders are circling. Adolfo Cambiaso — still the most recognizable name in world polo — plays Tamera’s colors alongside Poma, and a deep Tamera run would cap an extraordinary April for the Cambiaso name after Poroto Cambiaso’s Scone loss on Sunday.

The April 26 Championship Final

The final takes throw-in at 4:00 PM on Sunday, April 26, on the main field at the National Polo Center. The match is the centerpiece of Palm Beach’s high-goal closing weekend and airs nationally on ESPN, with Chris Fowler returning to call the tournament under the expanded USPA Global–ESPN partnership that now covers the Gauntlet of Polo series in full.

For Palm Beach regulars, the significance is outsized: the Open final is the last of the three Gauntlet Grand Slams — the C.V. Whitney Cup, USPA Gold Cup, and U.S. Open — and closes the winter season. Pilot already took the Gold Cup in a comeback over La Dolfina Scone in early April; a Pilot run to the Open title would give Curtis Pilot’s group a second leg of the Gauntlet in the same season and cement the team as the year’s defining lineup.

What to Know Before You Go

The National Polo Center (3667 120th Avenue South, Wellington) is the permanent home of the U.S. Open. The Grandstand opens early for Sunday’s final, and tailgate spots along the boards remain one of the few traditions in American polo that mirror the British sense of the sport as a social fixture. Food service runs through the matches, and the Grandstand’s premium hospitality packages have historically sold through ahead of final Sunday.

Ticket and hospitality details remain on the National Polo Center’s site. For collectors and patrons who have followed Palm Beach’s winter season from January’s opening matches through Gold Cup weekend, Sunday April 26 is the fixed point the calendar has been moving toward — and the one afternoon in Wellington where the stands and the boards see the same scene together.

Sources

• Pololine — Coca Cola, BTA, Pilot and Tamera Will Play the Semifinals of the US Open
• USPA — U.S. Open Polo Championship Official Calendar
• ESPN Press Room — USPA Global and ESPN Expand Relationship With Chris Fowler for 2026 High-Goal Polo Championships
• National Polo Center — Official Site