Africa - October 01, 2008

The Dow Chemical Company announced a four-year marketing partnership with the PGA Tour in September. The deal makes Dow the Official Chemistry Company of the PGA TOUR, Champions Tour, Nationwide Tour and the Tournament Players Clubs (TPCs). The partnership will see Dow and the PGA Tour collaborate in several key ways to enhance the sport of golf through innovative solutions and products as well as meaningful CSR projects.

As part of the the agreement, Dow AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, will offer its assistance to course management at the TPC courses. Dow AgroSciences is amongst the largest suppliers of products designed to manage insects, weeds and diseases in the U.S. golf industry. It will provide DIMENSION® specialty herbicide, one of the best-known products among golf course superintendents for helping to control crabgrass and other weeds at premier golf courses across the U.S.

Additionally, Dow will provide other innovative technology solutions such as DOW XLA™ premium fiber, which brings a new dimension of comfort and mobility to performance golf apparel by providing a less compressive, more comfortable stretch that moves with the wearer. The XLA™ was introduced for the first time in golf knitwear in its Signature Series Ultimate 80s polo shirts in the Greg Norman Collection.

Other notable Dow solutions include VORASTAR™ cast polyurethane covers, AMPLIFY™ ionomeric resins that enhance the durability and performance of golf balls, and INFUSE™ olefin block copolymers for a diverse range of applications including golf club grips. These soft-touch grips provide non-slip performance in both dry and wet conditions.

The partnership also further expands the potential of PGA TOUR player Sean O'Hair and LPGA TOUR player Suzann Pettersen to market Dow products. For example, Dow's Human Element advertising campaign celebrated O'Hair's victory at the PODS Championship earlier this year. Dow plans to advertise on PGATOUR.COM and a variety of other golf media outlets.

"Dow's involvement with the PGA TOUR and LPGA increases our visibility outside the traditional marketplace and enables us to further promote the strength of the Dow brand to another key influential stakeholder group," said Dow's Julie Fasone Holder, senior vice president, Chief Marketing, Sales and Reputation Officer. "Being involved with the PGA TOUR provides Dow the ability to promote ourselves in a nontraditional way and further enhance our brand."

The partnership is also viewed by Dow as an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution through support of the First Tee, a World Golf Foundation initiative that seeks to positively impact upon the lives of young people by providing them with learning facilities and educational programs that promote strong character development and life-enhancing values through the game of golf. In addition, the new America's Future Program will create connections between industry leaders and talented diverse groups of young people, with the objective of creating meaningful long-term relationships between high-school-age participants and corporations that lead to scholarships, internships, and career path development.

"This partnership with the PGA TOUR raises the profile of our company and our cutting-edge products with very important constituencies and markets, while complementing our current involvement with PGA TOUR and LPGA players," said Heinz Haller, executive vice president, Dow Performance Plastics & Chemicals. "Equally important, supporting The First Tee enables us to further the education of deserving and talented young people and build potential career opportunities for them."

"We are extremely pleased to form this new partnership with Dow, which benefits not only our Tours and TPCs, but also The First Tee," said Tom Wade, the PGA TOUR's chief marketing officer. "We look forward to working with Dow and using its products and expertise to benefit our facilities and the people who use them."

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Doritha Erwee
The Dow Chemical Company
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