FIRST MATCH AT POLO CLUB ATTRACTS MIX OF SPECTATORS

The Palm Beach Post; 1/5/2004; LARRY KELLER, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

The Palm Beach Post

01-05-2004

FIRST MATCH AT POLO CLUB ATTRACTS MIX OF SPECTATORS

BYLINE: LARRY KELLER, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

EDITION: FINAL

SECTION: LOCAL

MEMO: Ran all editions.

WELLINGTON -- One hundred sixty yards is the width of a polo field, and at Sunday's inaugural match of the International Polo Club Palm Beach, it bridged an economic gap that is miles wide.

On one side of the field, polo's proletariat was perched in aluminum bleachers, folding chairs or the backs of pickups and SUVs - fans who paid $10 general admission to watch men swinging mallets astride the ponies.

On the other side, sitting in fancy new grandstand seats were polo's prosperous - folks who paid a $25,000 membership fee and $5,000 for reserved seats for the fledgling season.

The first group wore blue jeans, shorts and T-shirts. Many brought their own food and drinks. Those who didn't could buy burgers, hot dogs and chips from a vendor.

Across the field, men wore panama hats, blazers and Tommy Bahama silk shirts. The women were decked out in sundresses and wide-brimmed hats. They all enjoyed a brunch catered by The Breakers, and sipped champagne and wine. Infiltrating this group were journalists of a decidedly lower income strata, who management hoped would spread the word about the new polo facility.

Club spokesman Mason Phelps cautioned them not to pester actor Tommy Lee Jones, who is a player and "patron" of the San Saba team that played Pony Express on Sunday. Jones "is a very private person," Phelps said. "Please respect his privacy. Otherwise, we're going to lose him as a polo patron, and we don't want that."

The International Polo Club Palm Beach is striving to be more than a place to watch polo. It has, or soon will, men and women's fitness centers, a 25-meter swimming pool, an outdoor dining area that will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and a tiki bar with dozens of polo mallets strung overhead overlooking the main playing field and a man-made lake.

A two-story clubhouse is planned for next year. "The vision was to make it a homey feeling," said John Goodman, the Houston-based air-conditioning magnate who bankrolled the facility. "But you don't have to be a horse person" to enjoy the club.

To christen the new facility, Goodman had a champagne-laden helicopter fly onto the playing field at halftime during the San Saba-Pony Express game.

Fans from both the cheap seats and the grandstands were invited onto the field for a free glass of bubbly. The only bad news was that the champagne was gone in a few minutes, and some people got none.

But on a happier note, nobody bothered Tommy Lee Jones.