February 3, 2009
Appleby And Bridgestone Make Boom at WGC NEC Invitational
Stuart Appleby Relies on TOUR B330-S ball and J33P Driver in Ascent to Top of PGA TOUR Longest Drive Category
Covington, Ga. — In a week in which Bridgestone announced its new title sponsorship of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
in Akron, Ohio for the next five years, Bridgestone Golf staff player Stuart Appleby hit the longest drive of the PGA TOUR
season. Teeing off in the third round on the par 5 16th hole, Appleby used the new Bridgestone Golf TOUR B330-S golf ball
and his Bridgestone J33P driver to boom a mammoth drive of 427-yards.
In addition to his 427-yard moon shot, Appleby also produced two other 400-yard plus drives on the same hole in rounds 1
and 2 of 408-yards and 412-yards, respectively. For the week, Appleby led the field in driving distance averaging 341-yards
per drive, beating out eventual tournament winner Tiger Woods by over six yards per drive.
Bridgestone Sweeps Driving Distance Categories on the PGA TOUR; Distance Leader Hend Earns More Equipment for Returning
Military
With Appleby's impressive WGC driving performance, Bridgestone Golf now leads in both PGA TOUR statistical categories relevant
to distance. In addition to Appleby's capture of the Longest Drive lead this week in Akron, Scott Hend continued his dominance
in the PGA TOUR Driving Distance category with a performance at the Reno-Tahoe Open in which he averaged nearly 333-yards
off the tee. Hend who plays the Bridgestone Golf B330 golf ball and J33R driver is currently averaging 318-yards per drive,
which is more than three yards ahead of his nearest competitor Tiger Woods.
Hend's impressive performance this week in Reno translates into 33 new golf clubs for returning service men and women, as
part of Bridgestone Golf's "The Long Drive Home" program. In the program, for every yard over 300 that Hend averages each
week in competition Bridgestone Golf donates equipment to the American Legion who then distributes it to randomly chosen
service men and women returning from action in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since the program's inception the last week of June,
Bridgestone Golf has donated nearly $60,000 worth of products as a result of Hend's weekly driving distance average.
To see the products Stuart Appleby and Scott Hend rely on firsthand, log on to the Bridgestone Golf website, www.bridgestonegolf.com.
# # #
Bridgestone Golf, Inc., based in Covington, GA, manufactures and markets premium
golf balls, clubs and accessories under the Bridgestone and Precept brand names.
Bridgestone is represented on a world stage by a number of internationally famed
golfers including
Fred Couples, Matt Kuchar,
Davis Love III, Brandt Snedeker,
Paula Creamer, Nick Price,
and Lee Trevino.
Bridgestone Golf, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Sports Co. Ltd.,
whose headquarters are in Tokyo.
Bridgestone Golf, Inc. is proud to be the #1 Ball Fitter in Golf as the industry
leader in live launch monitor fittings. Bridgestone provides three ways for golfers
to find the ball that best fits their game: live fittings through the
Bridgestone Ball Fitting Challenge, live online
chats with ball fitting
experts through its B-FIT service, and an easily accessible
Online Ball Selection Guide. For more
information on ball fitting, including a complete schedule of Ball Fitting Challenge
events, visit www.bridgestonegolf.com.
