The University of Kentucky, bolstered by a one-under-par round by John Holmes and an even par round by Matt Wells, is the first round leader of the 2005 Southeastern Conference Men’s Golf Championships, held at the Sea Island Golf Club ? Seaside Course under sunny and breezy conditions, on Friday.

As a team, the Wildcats shot a 10-over-par 290, which is four shots better than second-place Florida at 294. Alabama is third, five shots back, at 295 and Auburn is fourth, six shots back at 296. UK is searching for its first SEC Championship.

South Carolina and Tennessee are tied for fifth with 298s, while defending SEC champion Georgia is seventh at 302. Mississippi State is eighth at 303 followed by Arkansas and LSU, tied for ninth, at 305, Vanderbilt 11th at 306 and Ole Miss is 12th at 311.

Georgia’s Richard Scott holds the individual lead at 68, two shots under par. The junior was 48th in the SEC in scoring heading into the tournament, averaging 74.95 strokes per round. Kentucky’s tandem of Holmes is second at 69 and Wells is third at 70. There is a four-way tie in fourth place at one-over-par 71 between Alabama’s Gator Todd and Mark Harrell, Florida’s Matt Every and Tennessee’s Phillip Pettit.

Arkansas’ Eric Shriver, Florida’s James Vargas and Tennessee’s David Skinns round out the top 10 tied for eighth at two-over-par 72.

Matt Kohn ranks among the top 20, along with Holmes and Wells, and is tied for 16th overall with his first-round four-over-par score of 74. Brandon Waldrop ranks 38th in the individual standings with a score of 77, while Mark Blakefield stands tied for 41st after firing a 78 in the first day of play to round out the scoring for the Wildcats.

The tournament continues on Saturday with second round play and Sunday with third and final round action. Real-time scoring is available online at ukathletics.com.