Sport: How Much for a Golfer?

In the smoke-hazed dining room of Las Vegas' Desert Inn last week, the supply of ready money would have staggered the earnest searcher for a low-rate bank loan. Free Scotch and fast talk was all it took to con a crew of well-heeled high rollers into coughing up $266,000 worth of bets. For his cash, each gambler was buying a crack golfer in the "Calcutta" auction before the Desert Inn's sixth annual Tournament of Champions. The man who owned the winner would get a whopping $95,760 share of the pot; even a lowly seventh-place finisher would bring his backer $11,970. For...