Philadelphia, PA – Portland, OR (SportsNetwork.com) - Carlos Ortiz fired an 8-under 63 on Friday as he moved into the lead at the WinCo Foods Portland Open.
Ortiz is a two-time winner on the Web.com Tour this season and he entered the final regular-season event leading Andrew Putnam for the top spot on the money list by just over $50,000.
"I think I've made a few mistakes and had too much on my mind about playing on the PGA Tour," said Ortiz, who has not had a top-10 finish in his last seven starts. "I needed to get back to playing golf and not worry so much. I've had a couple mistakes finishing in my last couple weeks."
Nicholas Lindheim (64) is alone in second place at 12-under, one shot back. Mark Hubbard (65) owns third on the Witch Hollow Course at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club at minus-10.
First-round co-leader Matt Fast (70) shares fourth with James Nitties (67) at 9-under 133.
Kent Bulle, who shared the first-round lead with Fast, tripped to a 4-over 75 during his second round to fall into a tie for 22nd place at 4-under 138.
Ortiz started on the back nine and quickly got his round going with a chip-in eagle at the 11th. He followed that with consecutive birdies at the 12th and 13th to move to 9-under.
A bogey at the 14th halted his momentum, but he got that shot right back with a birdie at the 15th.
Ortiz chipped in for his second eagle of the day at the ninth to make the turn at 11-under.
He would cruise through his second nine with birdies at the third and sixth among seven pars to move to the top of the leaderboard at minus-13.
"Today was very easy with those chip-ins. I was hitting fairways today and that made a big difference," said Ortiz.
Lindheim opened his round with back-to-back birdies at the 10th and 11th. After tripping to a bogey at the 14th, he reeled off three straight birdies from the 16th to make the turn at 9-under.
He later found the green with his second shot at the par-5 fourth and converted his eagle putt to jump to minus-11.
Consecutive gains at the seventh and eighth brought into a tie for the lead with Ortiz, but he hit his tee shot into a bunker at the ninth and eventually 2-putted for bogey to drop a shot off the pace.
Hubbard countered a pair of bogeys with an eagle and six birdies during his second round to finish three shots behind Ortiz.
"My attitude's been great the first two days," said Hubbard, who played along with Ortiz the first two days. "I've done a good job of staying patient and sticking to my game plan, which is tough when you're watching Carlos birdie every hole. It's a tough course and you're going to make some bogeys and get some bad bounces."
NOTES: With a third win this week, Ortiz will earn fully exempt status on the PGA Tour for the 2014-15 season ... Lindheim is currently 110th on the money list and needs to move inside the top 75 to earn a spot in the upcoming finals events ... The cut line fell at 1-under 141, with 75 players advancing to the weekend. Among those to miss the cut was Putnam ... Chris Epperson was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.
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