Hietala flies like an eagle toward lead.

Byline: NOTEBOOK By Ron Bellamy The Register-Guard

JUNCTION CITY - With a former Oregon State golfer as his caddie and swing coach, Ryan Hietala of Boise tied the Oregon Classic record with two eagles Friday and moved to 8 under in the tournament, in sixth place and two strokes off the lead.

Hietala, 31, gave a lot of the credit to his best friend and former roommate, Rob Nelson, who grew up in Bend and who will be in Hietala's wedding next summer. Nelson is both Hietala's swing coach and, this week, his caddie.

"No one knows my swing better than Rob," Hietala said.

By the way, Nelson, the former Beaver, is hard to miss.

"He's wearing as much orange as he can this week," Hietala said. "Orange shoes, orange hat, all that stuff."

Following Hietala are Nelson's parents, Bill and Kay, who were in the gallery when he won earlier this year in Louisiana.

"His mom was like my calming sensation in the gallery," Hietala said. "I took the positive stuff from her in Lafayette, and was looking at her in the crowd today and that settled me. ... They're like my second family."

This is Hietala's fourth Oregon Classic; his best finish came in 1999, when he tied for 10th, also with Nelson on his bag.

Hietala recorded an eagle on the 555-yard No. 5 hole, when he recovered from a poor drive by holing out from 50 yards, and on the 541-yard No. 18, when he hit a "perfect drive," then "a smooth little 6-iron" from 205 yards to 18 feet past the hole, whereupon he drained the putt.

A close shave

Nationwide Tour money leader Troy Matteson shaved his beard Thursday night, not to change his luck after an opening-round 74, but, well, because his wife, Shauna, told him it was getting "scratchy."

With domestic harmony ensured, Matteson scrambled to a 70 on Friday. "I hit the ball terrible today," he said. "I mean, just rotten."

But that got him to even par, which turned out to be the cut line, and Matteson advanced to play the weekend.

That means Matteson has a mathematical chance to set the single-season earnings record here on Sunday.

The record is $494,882, by Zach Johnson in 2003. Matteson has earned $480,229, so he'd need $14,654 for the record, which would require a seventh-place finish.

Short putts

For the second time in three years, three golfers have shared the halfway lead of the Oregon Classic at 10-under; in 2003, the leaders were Chris Couch, Jason Bohn and Mark Wurtz, and Couch defeated Bohn in a playoff. ... Through two rounds, the toughest hole at the Oregon Classic, is, as usual, No. 14, a par 4 with a sloping green toward a water hazard; it played to an average score of 4.354 strokes, with 18 birdes, 171 pars, 78 bogeys, 13 double bogeys and five scores worse than that. ... Most benign was the 18th, a par 5, which played to an average score of 4.509 and has surrendered 13 eagles.