By all accounts, the Entertainment Capital of the World has had a tough time with publicity lately, but the 10th Annual Las Vegas Corporate Invitational Golf Tournament proved that no one can do it the way Vegas can. With 150 meeting planners turning out, event organizers called this year's tournament the most successful ever. The two-day event was sponsored by the MeetingsNet magazines of Penton Media Inc., publisher of Medical Meetings, and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

As in the past, tournament players were treated to rounds on two of Las Vegas' finest courses. The first day was hosted by Royal Links, which has creatively transplanted the British golfing experience to Las Vegas. The links-style course features holes inspired by the great British Open rotation courses, including the Road Hole from the Old Course at St. Andrews and the Postage Stamp from Royal Troon. The second day of the tournament was held at the spectacular par-71, 7,063-yard TPC Las Vegas, which has hosted a number of professional golf tournaments since it opened in 1996.

The 36-hole winners were the Wynn/Encore team of Dione Williams, Wynn/Encore; Doug Caldwell, JP Morgan; Phil Cavanagh, Monster Worldwide Inc.; and Rick Lotich, Marketing Innovators. Each team member won a complete set of Nike golf clubs.

This year the Las Vegas Corporate Invitational included a separate agenda for nongolfers. Day one featured a tour of the Strip with Maverick Helicopter. On the second day, attendees rode along in a race car — at speeds of 160 miles per hour — with a Richard Petty driving instructor at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The agenda also included lunch at Red Rock Casino Resort Spa, and a guided tour and hike in Red Rock Canyon.

The welcome reception was hosted by Palms Place Hotel & Spa, while the closing night dinner and award ceremony was hosted by Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

Event sponsors included the Alan Waxler Group, American Hole-in-One, Badlands Golf Club, Bellagio Las Vegas, Blue Man Group, Cascata, Fontainebleau Las Vegas, Golden Nugget Las Vegas, Green Valley Ranch Resort/Red Rock Las Vegas, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, Las Vegas Meetings by Harrah's Entertainment, Las Vegas Photography, Loews Lake Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay Las Vegas, Maui Jim, Maverick Helicopter Tours, MGM Grand, Mirage Las Vegas, Nike Golf, Palms & Palms Place Casino Resort, Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino Las Vegas, Pole Position Raceway Las Vegas, Richard Petty Driving Experience, Rio Secco Golf Club, Riviera Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, Walters Golf/Royal Links, Silverstone Golf Club, The Venetian/Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino, TPC Las Vegas, Vdara Condo Hotel, and Wynn/Encore Las Vegas.