Hietala, Bettencourt share first-round lead at Oregon Classic
HIETALA, BETTENCOURT SHARE FIRST-ROUND LEAD AT OREGON CLASSICJunction City, Oregon –Ryan Hietala and Matt Bettencourt posted a 7-under-par 65s Thursday to grab a share of the first-round lead in the Oregon Classic. Hietala polished off a bogey-free round in the morning at Shadow Hills Country Club, while Bettencourt was in one of the final afternoon pairings.
The Nationwide Tour’s leading money winner, Brendon de Jonge heads a list of four players at 5-under 67. He is joined in third by Darron Stiles, B.J. Staten and former U.S. Amateur champion Bubba Dickerson. Nine others are three shots back after the opening day, which saw 100 of the 156 starters shoot par-or-better scores.
Hietala, winner of the Cox Classic in Omaha last month, wasn’t particularly thrilled with his effort, but he admitted he got the job done when he needed to.
“It was just one of those days where putts are going in,” he said after hitting just six of 14 fairways. “It was nothing special. The ball-striking wasn’t 100%. It wasn’t an A or a B+, it was a pretty weak B. I just didn’t get into trouble and the shots that I was in trouble with I was coming up with shots that were within 10 or 15 feet and I was making putts. I made some good putts and was lucky on some breaks, but that’s the way golf is.”
It wasn’t that way for Hietala at last week’s Albertsons Boise Open, where he missed the cut while playing in his hometown, with his wife caddying for him.
“Having Jennifer on the bag was great. I just hit a little funk,” he said. “My friend said, ‘it’s an anomaly, it’s over with, it shouldn’t have happened, take it in stride and move forward.’”
The missed cut dropped Hietala from No. 17 to No. 20 on the 2008 money list with only a handful of events left on the schedule. THE 25 top money winners at the end of the year will earn their PGA TOUR cards for next year.
”No excuses. I played poorly. Whatever happens, I’m not going to put pressure on myself. I’ve been there before. I know what it’s all about,” he said. “Subconsciously you think about it. It pops in your head that I’m 20th and about 20-thousand short of securing the card. You start thinking about all these things but you can’t let it affect your golf.”
Nothing really bothered the big-hitting Hietala, who saved par three times with putts over 10 feet. His birdie on the par-3, 7th found the bottom of the cup from 30 feet.
“The minute I hit it, I said ‘hit a house because it was going off the green,’” he said. “It hit the back of the hole, jumped up and went in.”
Bettencourt was “ecstatic” to shoot a 65 on a golf course that he enjoys but one that has given him fits over the years.
“I really haven’t much success here. I’ve made only one cut in four tries,” he said. Actually, it’s one of three, with only one round (68) below par in seven previous starts. “That says something right there if you love the golf course but you’ve never played well. You generally don’t have to shoot crazy-low scores out here to feel good about yourself.”
In contrast to Hietala, Bettencourt felt good after having a good ball-striking day. The difference, though, for the South Carolina resident was putting. Bettencourt, ranked No. 54 in putting, finally made some long putts, something that has been missing in his game.
“I made three over 15 feet, one of them from 30 feet and that’s pretty good for me,” he said. “I’ve worked really hard on my putting lately. My caddie has been expressing to me over the last month or so that ‘they’re going to come, just keep believing in your putting stroke.’ It’s been working.”
It certainly worked on Thursday, unfortunately his regular caddie, J.J. Jakovac, didn’t get to see the positive results. Jakovac, a two-time NCAA Division II Individual Champion at Chico State, was one of 14 Open Qualifiers to make the field this week. Jakovac birdied the final hole for a 1-under 71.
First-Round News & Notes: Doug Barron (79) and Nick Malinowski (76) withdrew after completing the first round…Thursday’s first-round scoring average was 71.801…Players who were bogey-free in round one: 65 – Ryan Hietala, Matt Bettencourt; 67 – Bubba Dickerson; 69 – Michael Sim, Geoffrey Sisk…
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