Bridgestone Golf announced today the release of its new line of J40 hybrids. The hybrids, part of Bridgestone’s comprehensive J40 club launch, will be available at golf specialty and on-course retailers nationwide in October 2011. Boasting design improvements in clubhead shaping and weighting, the J40s are Bridgestone’s longest, most forgiving utility clubs to date.

“The hybrid is taking on an increasingly important role in golf given the decline in long iron usage,” said Corey Consuegra, Golf Club Marketing Manager, Bridgestone Golf, Inc. “Our newJ40 hybrids are longer and more forgiving than our previous offerings, and we expect them to find a place in many serious players’ bags.”

The J40 hybrids feature:

• longer heel-to-toe design for more forgiveness on off-center hits
• 17-4 stainless steel casting for the ultimate in soft-but-solid feel
• clubhead shaping and tungsten weighting designed to increase stability and distance with a draw bias on all shots
• Bridgestone’s proprietary Variable Face Thickness Design providing increased mass on the perimeter of the face for higher ball speed on off-center hits
• blade-like masking at address that increases visible face area for more confidence at address

The J40 hybrids are available in 18 (2h), 21 (3h), and 24 (4h) degrees of loft and come standard with a Project X® Graphite shaft. The clubs will feature a street price of $179 each (MSRP $199) and will be available in October 2011.

www.bridgestonegolf.com

This week at Congressional Country Club, Bridgestone Golf Tour Staff members Davis Love III, Matt Kuchar, and Brandt Snedeker will be carrying their golf clubs in this red, white, and blue commemorative staff bag. No word on if this special edition U.S. Open colorway will be available for retail.

www.bridgestonegolf.com

Bridgestone Golf, the No. 1 ball-fitter in golf, announced this week that it is partnering with Michelob ULTRA for the “Golfer’s Ultimate 6-Pack” promotion. Just in time for Father’s Day, the Golfer’s Ultimate 6-Pack is a limited-edition package featuring five Michelob ULTRA Slimline cans and a three-ball sleeve of Bridgestone’s award-winning e6 golf balls (where legal).

“Working together with Michelob ULTRA, we have created a fun promotion that is sure to be a winner this Father’s Day season,” said Dan Murphy, Bridgestone Golf’s Vice President of Marketing.

The Golfer’s Ultimate 6-Pack will be released on May 23 and is the first retail package to combine Michelob ULTRA with Bridgestone e6 golf balls at the point of purchase. The promotion includes nearly 500,000 sleeves of e6 balls, making this one of the largest golf ball samplings in recent history.

About the Bridgestone e6
Bridgestone’s e6 golf ball is once again a gold medal winner in Golf Digest’s “2011 Hot List,” having earned the honor five of the last six years. The e6’s three-piece Surlyn cover construction provides the incredible ability to reduce sidespin for increased accuracy and longer distance. The new e6 remains the lowest compression multi-layer ball on the market – perfect for moderate swing speed players looking to limit slices and hooks – and features Bridgestone’s new Dual Dimple Technology for improved distance performance.

About Michelob Ultra Beer
With only 95 calories, 2.6g carbs per serving and one exceptionally smooth taste, Michelob ULTRA is the smart choice for adults who live active lifestyles. Michelob ULTRA supports multiple golf events in the U.S., and is the official beer sponsor of the PGA TOUR and the LPGA. For more information on how to “Live Life to the ULTRA,” visit www.Facebook.com/MichelobUltra.

For more information on the Golfer’s Ultimate 6-Pack and Bridgestone’s entire line up of balls, visit www.bridgestonegolf.com.

In Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, Bridgestone Tour Team member Brandt Snedeker ensured Easter 2011 would be one he’d never forget, firing a tournament low 7-under par 64 to earn his way into a playoff for the Heritage. In his second career PGA TOUR victory, Snedeker made a title-clinching par on the 3rd hole of the sudden death playoff to secure the victory and vault him into 7th place in the 2011 FedExCup standings.

“With 5 Top 10’s this year, Brandt has been one of the hottest players on TOUR over the last few weeks, so we had a feeling that it was only a matter of time until he would be hoisting the second PGA TOURtrophy of his career,” said Dan Murphy, Vice President of Marketing – Bridgestone Golf, Inc.  “We’re excited that the B330-S helped Brandt stand up to the tough test that is Harbour Town Golf Links.   We were proud to see ‘Sneds’ don the Tartan Jacket.  There isn’t a more deserving champion in golf.”

Snedeker relied on the incredible feel and consistency of the new Bridgestone Golf TOUR B330-S golf ball in his march to victory, compiling an array of impressive statistics throughout the course of the event.  On the incredibly tight Harbour Town Golf Links, Snedeker finished T3 in Driving Accuracy and also managed T2 and T4 finishes in Putts per GIR and Putts PerRound, respectively.  In addition, Snedeker negotiated the demanding track with 21 birdies for the week, the best of any competitor in the field.

Brandt Snedeker’s Setup for the 2011 Heritage:

• Driver: TaylorMade Burner SuperFast (10.5°) with a Fujikura Morore F1 2.0 shaft
• Fairway Wood: TaylorMade Burner SuperFast (15°) with a Mitsubishi Diamana Blue Board 73 shaft
• Hybrid: Adams Pro A12 Proto G (20°) with an NVentix Nunchuk GH 2660 shaft
• Irons: Bridgestone Tourstage GR C-1 Irons 3-P (TT DG X100);
• Wedges: Bridgestone Golf J38 54 Degree (TT DG S400), Cleveland 588 (60°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts
• Putter: Odyssey White Hot XG Rossie
• Golf Ball: Bridgestone TOUR B330-S

www.bridgestonegolf.com

Bridgestone Golf and the newest member of its TOUR team Davis Love III, announced today that they’ll be teaming up for a season-long effort to benefit Golf 9/12. Bridgestone Golf will contribute $100 to Golf 9/12 for every birdie that Love cards from the start of the 2011 PGA Tour season through September 11th-a sum, based on Love’s storied career, that should climb above $30,000.

”Every birdie putt that I stand over in 2011 now takes on additional meaning,” Love emphasized. “Im happy to play a small part in the mission of the Golf 9/12 organization. Knowing that every birdie I make will help benefit our brave men and women, at home and abroad and will help foster a universal spirit of unity, is added motivation for me! I am truly honored to be part of this organization.”

About Golf 9/12
Golf 9/12 is a brand new initiative that was created in an effort to recapture the collective spirit of unity that swept through the country the day after 9/11/01.

Golf 9/12 encourages people to take part in a global day of golf, connected by a live mobile scoring and social networking application, in which $12 will be added to players’ greens fees to help fund educational programs at the Pentagon Memorial, the 9/11 Memorial and the Flight 93 Memorial. Proceeds will also benefit Armed Forces charities, local first responders and Friends of Freedom charities.

Bridgestone plans to track Love’s success on the course through its website, www.bridgestonegolf.com, and golf fans should check the site to track progress.

Matt Kuchar 2010 BMW Championship

The 2010 professional golf season will be one to remember, as the world welcomed a new #1, saw a crop of rising young stars challenge for some of the most prestigious titles in golf, and witnessed a decline like none other before it. Amidst all this, fan favorites and Bridgestone Tour Team members, Matt Kuchar and Fred Couples achieved career years on the PGA TOUR and Champions TOUR, respectively.

Matt Kuchar’s Incredible 2010 Season
Relying on Bridgestone’s TOUR B330-S prototype golf ball and J38 driver, irons and wedges, Kuchar displayed unparalleled scoring consistency throughout the season carding 20 Top 25 finishes (11 Top 10s) in the 26 events in which he played. Kuchar’s incredible play netted him his first-ever Byron Nelson Award for lowest scoring average on TOUR with an impressive season-long scoring average of 69.61. Perhaps equally as extraordinary, Kuchar’s #1 ranking in the 2010 PGA TOUR stats’ All-Around ranking, helped propel him to #1 on the Money List with $4,910,477 in earnings, securing his first ever Arnold Palmer Award. Kuchar’s awesome season left him #2 in the FedExCup standings and #11 in the Official World Rankings.

“For me to go from a guy that just wanted to keep his card a few years ago, to winning the Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer Awards, along with a chance to win the FedExCup, is pretty overwhelming,” said Kuchar. “I owe credit to so many people, but certainly a great deal of it goes to my instructor, Chris O’Connell. Since we started working together in 2006, I’ve only gotten better. “My new swing and my new Bridgestone equipment had me knocking the stew out of the ball this year. I was hitting it longer and straighter and as a result I was able to be more aggressive on the weekends. I can’t wait to see what 2011 brings. It will be hard to duplicate 2010, but I sure look forward to trying.”

Couples Creates Sonic Boom with All-Time Record on Champions Tour

On the Champions Tour, the Bridgestone Golf Tour Team racked up additional accolades, as Fred Couples utilized his first full-season on the over 50 circuit to set the all-time record for single season low scoring average with an unfathomable 67.96 over 48 rounds, garnering his first-ever Byron Nelson Award. The previous low-scoring average on the Champions Tour was 68.58, set by Hale Irwin in1998.

“With all of the great players out here, you just can’t come out and expect to dominate from the get go, so I am excited to have had a great first year on the Champions Tour,” said Couples. “This year was awesome, but next year, I already have my sights set on the Charles Schwab Cup trophy. My swing feels great, so now I am looking forward to a little break, and then starting 2011 off on the right foot. ”

In 2010, Couples won an incredible 4 times in 17 tries, and recorded a mind-blowing 13 Top 10 finishes on the Champions Tour. Couples’ performance with Bridgestone’s TOUR B330 golf ball and J38 Dual Pocket Cavity irons earned him 2nd place in the 2010 Charles Schwab Cup Standings with $2,344,894 in earnings.

“Between the success of Fred and Matt, I can honestly say the Bridgestone Golf tour team has never had a season like this ever before,” said Dan Murphy – Vice President of Marketing, Bridgestone Golf, Inc. “Better yet, we believe these guys are just getting started. We can’t wait to see what 2011 has in store for Kuch and Fred. We’re honored to have played a small part in their career seasons and look forward to many great things to come.”

www.bridgestonegolf.com

2011 Bridgestone Tour B330

Coming to golf specialty store near you this Fall, is the updated 2011 Bridgestone Golf B330 series of Tour performance golf balls, featuring a proprietary new material used in the dual mantle construction. The 2011 version of the TOUR B330 and TOUR B330-S golf balls will offer high swing speed players more distance off the tee and the same great spin and feel that better golfers have become accustomed to with Bridgestone.

2011 Bridgestone Tour B330-S

Bridgestone TOUR B330 and TOUR B330-S
The 2011 versions of the Bridgestone Golf TOUR B330 and B330-S get a power boost as a result of Bridgestone’s new RD10 resin mantle layers. Bridgestone engineers created RD10 by subdividing the constituent of high repulsion, which increased the material density and resulted in higher initial velocity and an overall softening of the mantle layers.

RD10 Technology
The new RD10 material is currently in play on the PGA TOUR in the presence of Ryder Cup rookie Matt Kuchar. Kuchar is the first player on the Bridgestone Tour team to benefit from the new RD10 mantle layer material, currently using a TOUR prototype version of the new B330-S that has helped improve his driving distance while maintaining tremendous spin and feel on the greens. In addition, the new DUAL MANTLE design scientifically engineered to promote quicker restoration at impact, results in faster rebound and reduced spin at tour-level swing speeds. By further reducing the spin off of the longer clubs in the bag (driver, fairway metals, hybrids and long irons), the 2011 B330 series provides better wind piercing performance than ever before. In addition, Bridgestone’s modified Gradational Hardness Layering, from the center of the core to the outer mantle allows for the smoothest and most efficient power transition of any Tour ball, ever. This means booming distance and superior accuracy off of longer clubs.

“With the new B330 family of balls we’re letting better players know that it’s OK to be long,” said Dan Murphy, Vice President of Marketing Bridgestone Golf, Inc. “We’ve heard our high-swing speed customers loud and clear, and the overwhelming majority still want one thing in their golf
balls, more distance. According to a recent consumer survey we conducted, golfers are very pleased with our balls’ spin performance around the greens. The thing every golfer wanted was more length. With all the industry spin on the new grooves out there right now, we think it is important that someone let golfers know what is really going to improve their scores better
length and accuracy. Neither of which comes from creating more spin.”

New Redesigned Dimple Pattern
Like their predecessors, the new B330 and B330-S will feature a SOFT Urethane 330-dimple design seamless cover for the ultimate in piercing consistent flight, and tour-level spin and control on the greens. However, for 2011, the Tour B330-S dimple pattern will be redesigned to compensate for its softer cover and compression, and slightly higher driver spin that comes as a result. Bridgestone engineers have created a new shallower 330-dimple pattern with modified dimple spacing designed to reduce up-shoot spin, creating a flatter trajectory and wind performance consistent with that of the B330. In addition, the new dimple pattern fosters a shallower landing angle on tee-shots for more fairway roll.

Optimized for players with swing speeds greater than 105 mph, the 2011 TOUR B330 and TOUR B330-S golf balls feature a street price of $42.99 per dozen (suggested retail price of $56 per dozen) and will be available November 1st at golf specialty stores and green grass retailers nationwide.

www.bridgestonegolf.com

Bridgeston e6 Orange

In a few short years, Bridgestone Golf’s e6 has become one of the most popular game improvement golf balls in the U.S. market. Widely
renowned for its ability to help curb slices and hooks, thanks to its maximum forgiveness on off-center hits, the ball has become a favorite for those golfers seeking greater distance and accuracy. This fall, Bridgestone Golf, the #1 ball-fitter in golf, is excited to unveil limited availability of two new bright yellow and bright orange colored e6 balls.

Bridgestone e6 Yellow

While the yellow and orange e6 balls are exciting new offerings in North America, colored golf balls are nothing new for Bridgestone, especially in Japan. Nearly 2 out of every 5 golf balls sold in Japan are colored, and Bridgestone currently is responsible for over 56% of all colored balls sold in that market, ranging in various color and performance choices. In fact, colored golf balls are even played by Bridgestone’s Japanese Tour players as illustrated by Katsumasa Miyamoto’s record-breaking back nine 29 with an orange ball at Firestone Country Club during the 2010 WGC Bridgestone Invitational.

“The e6 is the 4th best selling golf ball model at off-course retailers year-to-date, because it significantly reduces the excess sidespin that the majority of amateur golfers struggle with,” said Brandon Sowell, Director of Marketing – Bridgestone Golf, Inc. “As a result of its popularity, we have received a lot of consumer requests to offer it in color options too. Those requests along with our success with colored golf balls in Japan prompted us to do a survey through our social media platforms last spring, to gauge whether or not our customers would play a yellow or orange golf ball. The number that responded with strong interest was impressive so we are going to give them what they wanted.”

In the same survey, Bridgestone found an overwhelming amount of respondents (73%) cited better visibility as the key reason for wanting to play a colored ball. As a result, Bridgestone has introduced the concept of Super Visibility Coloring, making the new yellow and orange versions of the e6 the brightest premium golf balls on the market. The bright yellow and bright orange e6 limited edition golf balls will feature the same unique three-piece construction that the traditional white e6 has- maintaining its improved distance and accuracy performance. Proving this point, the e6 took home best-in-class awards for innovation, feel and performance in the $21-35 per dozen category of the 2010 Golf Digest Hot List. The e6 was the only golf ball in the entire 2010 Hot List to garner 3 best-in-class awards for
one category.

The new e6 balls will be available November 1st at golf specialty stores and green grass retailers nationwide and will feature a street price of $26.99 per dozen (MSRP – $38 per dozen).

Which color of the Bridgestone e6 will you buy? Orange or Yellow?

www.bridgestonegolf.com

Matt Kuchar holding the trophy after winning the 2010 Barclays-photo AFP

Just one week after cementing his spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup squad, rising PGA TOUR superstar and Bridgestone Tour team member, Matt Kuchar carded a final round 66 and a thrilling extra hole finish to secure his first ever FedEx Cup Playoffs victory at storied Ridgewood Country Club.

Playing a prototype B330-S ball, Kuchar shot a 5-under par final round,
earned the early clubhouse lead and, ultimately, captured the 2010 Barclays Classic title with a stunning birdie on the first hole of the sudden death playoff.

On the 73rd hole, Kuchar showcased the exceptional performance of his Bridgestone B330-S prototype ball, when he engineered an amazing 7-iron approach from 192 yards to kick-in birdie range, using his J38 7-iron from a difficult lie in the left rough. The victory, Kuchar¹s first in a career year filled with top 10 finishes in several high-profile events, vaulted him to the #1 spot atop the 2010 FedEx Cup Playoffs, the #1 spot on the 2010 Official Money List, #1 in scoring average, #1 in 2010 Top Ten Finishes and into the top 10 of the World Golf Rankings for the first time in his career.

“Watching Matt boom it down the stretch was awesome,” said Dan Murphy, Vice President of Marketing Bridgestone Golf, Inc. “This was one of the more dramatic events so far this year. It truly is a fitting start to what promises to be the most competitive Playoffs race ever. We’re thrilled that Bridgestone is able to continue to play a role in Matt¹s incredible ascension to one of the best players in the world.”

Matt Kuchar’s Setup for the 2010 Barclays:

• Driver: Bridgestone Golf J38 Prototype(435cc) 10.5 (GD Tour MD-6S);
• Fairway Wood: Tour Edge Exotics CB2 16.5 degree (GD Tour MD-7X)
• Hybrids: Callaway Big Bertha Heavenwood 3H 20 degree (Aldila NV 95X), Fourteen Golf 4 iron hybrid (SteelFiberi95 Constant Weight)
• Irons: Bridgestone Golf J38 Cavity Back irons – raw black finish (5-PW)(SteelFiber i95 Constant Weight)
• Wedges: Bridgestone Golf J38 Wedges 52 and 58 degree bet to 57, (TTDG S-400), Fourteen VS Forged 60 Degree-bent 62 (TT DG S-400)
• Golf Ball: Bridgestone 2010 TOUR B330-S prototype golf ball

www.bridgestonegolf.com