I played with Frank Lane, CEO of Universal Talkware Corporation, and Albert Viscio, Vice President of Booz, Allen & Hamilton.  Frank is a serial entrepreneur who has founded many corporations.  In addition, he has served in many senior positions in leading firms, e.g., as President and COO of Neutrogena Products.  Albert is an expert in a strategy and organization with a focus on growth and globalization; he has achieved many significant and successful accomplishments for a number of Fortune 100 firms.

This was my first round of golf since October, 1999 and I was a tad rusty.  The tournament went off "shotgun" style (i.e., all playing groups began at the same time on different holes of the course).  We played the back nine first.  I got off to a rough start on the first two or three holes, but I started to get some of my swing back after that.  My score was 47 for the back-nine, and I was surprisingly doing the best among the three of us.  I drank a bottle of water every 3-4 holes to stay hydrated.  Nasdaq had food & beverage carts driving the course to help us out.  Even with a Palm VII or Web-enabled mobile phone, I could not have placed an order as the carts were not wired for this and everything was complimentary.  The carts did offer the ultimate in delivery service -- food and drink, even when you are on the golf course; I loved it (my understanding is that this service is typical at many "better" golf courses).

The front nine was going well until the the last three holes, when the heat finally got to me and my game fell apart (my understanding is that it is a traditional and expected practice for golfers to create and detail some reason, usually beyond their control, for less than desired play).  I scored a 56 on the back nine (22 of these strokes were on the last three holes -- ouch) and holed out with a 103 total score.  Nevertheless, I had a great time and I'm reasonably happy with my "first time out for the season" score on this professional grade course.  My score was not he lowest in the end; Albert took the honors.

Amy spent the afternoon at the Spa getting a massage and then relaxing poolside.  She was enjoying every minute of the day.

In the evening, Nasdaq sponsored a reception and golf award dinner that was held poolside at La Quinta's Tennis Club.  Most of the conference participants had arrived to town and we had a great time.  Amy and I sat with Carlos Collazo and his wife (Carlos is the Chairman and CEO of MetiLinx, Inc.), Jim Demetriades and his wife (Jim is the CEO and President of Software Technologies Corporation -- it just went public and they appeared to be very happy and -- as they are newlyweds -- very much in love.  Congratulations), John Hunt (Co-founder and CEO of obongo.com), and Gerald Horkan and his wife (Gerald is a principal at Booz, Allen & Hamilton and his wife will be graduating in one month from Stanford Graduate School of Business -- she said Stanford is having a challenging time hiring Marketing faculty.  Hmmmm?).

The formal entertainment for the evening was synchronized swimming.  I had never observed this "up close and personal" and I found it fascinating; it appeared to be very demanding physically.  Some of the performances were done in groups and some by individuals.  The performances struck me as dance artistry in water.