Sport: The High Rollers

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The steak and drinks were on the house. The sated crowd in the main ballroom of Las Vegas' Desert Inn pushed heavily back from the tables and lit up complimentary cigars. Then, to a man, they reached for their checkbooks. These were no ordinary freeloaders; these were fast-money boys, big gamblers, high rollers. They were assembled to buy shares of the pot in the Desert Inn's fourth annual Tournament of Champions.

For the golfers themselves, the Tournament of Champions is the second-richest competition in the U.S. ($37,500 in prizes).* For gamblers, professional and amateur, it offers golf's biggest Calcutta pool, i.e., player auction. And it offers just the sort of risk the high rollers like to take. There is no house cut; there are no handicaps to figure; the field is small and brimful of class (eligible players must have won a P.G.A.-sponsored tournament during the past year). So when Los Angeles Auctioneer Milt Wershow jumped onto the stage, the boys were ready with their money.

Long & Strong. "How much am I bid for Mike Souchak?" called Wershow as he got ready to knock down one of last year's top moneywinners. "Who's he?" yelled a wiseacre. Wershow ignored the heckler. "He is long and very strong. He likes the course. He is playing well. How much for Souchak?" Quickly the bidding climbed, and Souchak, for $11,000, went to a bidder named Walter Marty, reportedly representing eastern gamblers.

Cigar smoke thickened, and as the Scotch bottles emptied, so did tongues. Wershow droned on. "I have pleasure in selling Lloyd Mangrum. He has his house built and paid for. He is relaxed and eating his food." Mangrum went for $15,500. "I give you Arnold Palmer. Short backswing; no choker." Palmer's sale price: $7,000. Wershow found his biggest sales resistance when he tried to peddle last year's Open Champion Jack Fleck. "They say he's on the stick again," said the anxious auctioneer, but the bidding stalled at $5,000. "Where's your gambling blood, fellows? He's the national champ." Fleck fell for a meager $6,500.

Comedians Bob Hope and Jimmy Durante took turns spelling Wershow. Busy cracking wise, Hope accidentally bought the same player he had lost money on last year: Bo Wininger. "My God!" he shouted. "Don't tell me I've got him! I don't want him." But Hope had him, for $6,500. Hope did better with Dentist Gary Middlecoff, "master of the chip and middle inlay." Middlecoff brought $16,000. Durante managed to sell Ted Kroll for $10,000. ("Didja ever see this fella Kroll's legs? A regular croquet player.") Top price ($16,500) went for last year's winner, Gene Littler. Littler went to Singer Frankie Laine, who had bought him last year and won $72,900 in the divvying up. Frankie's purchase brought the pot to $192,000.