TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ? John Holmes carded a 71 in the third round of the Conrad Rehling Spring Invitational to hold off Lars Brovold of Alabama and claim the individual tournament title, Sunday afternoon. Holmes led the Cats to a third-place team finish, which is their eighth consecutive top-10 team finish. Sophomore Matt Kohn also finished in the top-10 individually for the Cats with a fifth-place 214 (75-71-68) finish.

The Campbellsville native posted a pair of 69 scores in the first two rounds and finished with a season-low 209 (69-69-71). Holmes has typically played well at the Conrad Rehling Invitational, as he finished tied for second in 2002 and tied for fifth in 2003.

?I hit the ball great the first two days,? Holmes said. ?I hit the ball better than I scored actually. I had a chance to go really low, but today I didn?t hit the ball as well. Everything came together today and I finally got a win after coming close a couple of times before.?

?John has been playing well all year,? Coach Brian Craig said. ?He was due for a win. He played some pretty good golf and he held his composure well.?

As a team, the Wildcats finished third with an 881, which was only three strokes behind tournament champion, Alabama (878). Jacksonville State finished second with an 880. ?It was a mediocre performance for us even though Matt and John played well,? Craig said. ?Mark Blakefield?s back was still injured and he didn?t play at full strength. We can take some positives from it heading into the Johnny Owens Invitational.?

The Wildcats are set to play host to the 18th Annual Johnny Owens Invitational, which takes place Friday and Saturday, April 2-3 at the University Club of Kentucky.

Kentucky Finishes

1 John Holmes 209 (69-69-71)
5 Matt Kohn 214 (75-71-68)
T-32 Matt Wells 227 (76-75-76)
*T-38 Cale Barr 230 (74-80-76)
T-44 Mark Blakefield 231 (79-75-77)
T-47 Brandon Walrop 232 (79-76-77)