By Colleen Kane
Enquirer staff writer

Jay Tilton has had things other than golf occupying his mind and his time recently - like getting married three weeks ago. So he wasn't at the top of his golf game at the Met qualifier last week.

But because of a new Met format this year, which expanded from 32 to 64 qualifiers, Tilton still squeaked in to this week's match play at Triple Crown. In Monday's opening round, he used the new opportunity to ease back into his game and shoot beyond his low ranking.

Tilton, the No. 63 seed who never made match play in his three Mets before this one, knocked off second-seeded Brad Wilder 3 and 2 on Wilder's home course. Tilton will play John Craynon at 8:50 a.m. today in the round of 32.

"The last 11 holes of qualifying (last week), I remembered how to play again," Tilton said. "It's getting there. I'm getting back in the right frame of mind."

Tilton had company in the upset department. In his first Met, Matt Greco, seeded No. 62, defeated third-seeded Scott Ross 1-up. Ross was a quarterfinalist at last year's Met. Mark Boothby, the No. 64 seed, gave defending champion and top-seeded Kevin Hall a run on the last few holes before Hall beat him 2 and 1. Boothby had competed in "seven or eight" Mets before but had never qualified for match play.

Greco will play Jerod Cahill at 9:30 a.m. today. Hall will play Geoff Newman at 7:30 a.m.

"I like the expanded field," Boothby said. "There's that opportunity for the 64-1 upset. I think it's neat I had a shot."

Tilton was thankful, too. He was a 2003 Division III All-American during his senior year at Ohio Wesleyan, but he practices only about once a week these days. He shot a two-day qualifying total of 156 and hit the golf course only once since last Tuesday, he said.

"Married life's tough," Tilton said, smiling.

Still, he wasted no time pulling ahead of Wilder, going 2-up by hole three and never trailing. He fell to 1-up on hole 14 but then won the last two to advance.

Tilton said he is not sure if his new wife will come out to watch if he keeps advancing in the next week, but he still has plenty of family support on the golf course. His brother, Ben Tilton, the golf coach at Kings High School, is his caddy this week after failing to make the qualifying cut last week. His father, Tim Tilton, Winton Woods High's golf coach, also will attend all the matches, cheering for both his son and Kevin Hall.

Tim Tilton coached Jay and Hall at Winton Woods during what he said were "sure my best years." The former teammates Hall and Tilton are in different brackets and will not meet unless both advance to the final.

"(Hall's) gotten a lot better since high school," Jay Tilton said. "He's a lot stronger. Mentally, he's a lot better. He learned a lot at Ohio State."