DON - Yes, I'd pull the piston and carefully run your fingers around the outside of the rings to see if they have rough spots or sharp edges scratching the bore. I "REALLY" don't like those 3-pc oil rings Kohler uses in all their ring sets now. The thin scraper rings tend to come out of the recess on the top & bottom of the expander they're supposed to latch into when you install the piston & rings. The older style 1-pc oil control rings were REALLY expensive but IMHO worked much better. And for the cost of OEM Kohler parts I think they should still be part of the set.
I'm going to "assume" you have the adjustable steel sleeve style ring compresser you tighten around the piston than tap the piston into the bore. Same thing I use. The tapered sleeve style made from hard anodized alum. work 100 times better but you need one for each .010" increase in piston diameter. Which means you'd need 24 of them just to do all standard bores plus all the available over-size bores for 7,8,10,12,14, & 16HP Kohlers. Lots of BIG Bucks!
Could do like someone helping SON rebuild a 351 Windsor Ford did. Son was installing pistons, rings, rods, and had all eight pistons assembled and sliding them into the engine. Someone who had too many adult beverages removed the rings from one piston for some stupid reason and Son installed it into the engine. Engine continued to smoke slightly and the one cylinder only ran up 100-120 PSI compression while the other seven ran up 150-160. They finally pulled the engine and installed the last set of rings they found when picking up tools. The engine was a real strong high 9 second, low 10.0 second car in a FOX body Mustang. It had a really wild cam, aftermarket heads, long tube equal length headers, BIG carburator, 800-850 CFM. It pulled hard up to 7000-7500 RPM which is high for a 351W.