Scorecard

THE ODD WAR

Through no fault of her own, last week Chris Evert, president of the Women's Tennis Association, was going two ways at once. At a press conference, she confirmed her long-standing opinion that the women's purse at Wimbledon should equal the men's. The afternoon that she came out for parity at the pay window, she had no choice but to admit the disparity of the sexes on the playing court.

Specifically, she was concerned that Dr. Renee Richards, the transsexual, was planning to enter major women's tournaments, including the U.S. Open at Forest Hills. Speaking as an individual in a television interview, Chris said that Dr. Richards should take the chromosome test to prove her femininity. Under her previous name, Dr. Richard Raskind, the present Dr. Richards had played quite good tennis as a male. It is doubtful if Dr. Richards could pass the chromosome test. Even if she did, some medical men feel she would carry over to women's tennis residual advantages from having been a male.

Chris Evert's ambivalence in this odd circumstance is understandable. Dr. Renee Richards is the one we feel is at fault. After insisting two weeks ago that she had the "same right to play as any other woman," Dr. Richards turned the matter over to a lawyer (who is negotiating an agent contract for her upcoming book). Because of Dr. Richards' insistence, the USTA decreed last Saturday that she and every other woman competitor—all 184 of them—will have to take the chromosome test to determine their eligibility for the U.S. Open a week hence.

Boiling it down to the simplicities that transcend legality, Dr. Richards played as a man for 25 years. Although she occasionally gave a few like Ham Richardson a scare in early rounds, she never got to the top. Now 41, she wants to go against the best women. If she should master them, will she have truly won, or will it be part of the he still in her?

Dr. Richards has the right to choose her sex and name. And, indeed, she has a right to play the game, but should she muck it up for the other ladies? Is she an egocentric or just ignorantly selfish? Gene Scott, the director who is allowing her to play in the women's division of the South Orange Tournament this week, has described her as a "terrific sportsman." Perhaps once she was, but what is she now?

EIGHT THE HARD WAY

Last week we suggested that in the field of 2,655 golfers trying to qualify for this week's U.S. Amateur, incurable hunch players might be attracted to a real long shot, a little-known entrant named Monte Carlo Money from Las Vegas.

This week we present the sort of hunch player we had in mind: Stan Gilberts, a service-station owner in Glendale, Calif. Two Sundays ago—on the eighth day of the eighth month of the year—Gilberts' daughter, Mrs. Kristi Harper, bore an eight-pound, eight-ounce baby boy. That afternoon at the Del Mar track Gilberts bet $8 across the board on the No. 8 horse in the eighth race, the La Jolla Mile (or, if you will, the La Jolla Eight Furlongs). The horse, aptly named Today and Tomorrow, won, netting Gilberts $80.80.

THE BOOMER NEVER LIES