SRTsFZ6
Any updates?

Yes. I had to make a very slight adjustment to the governor lever in relationship to the governor shaft. You may ask why? Normally you don't need to mess with that. True, but I also replaced the governor shaft oil seal and I thought I marked it carefully before disconnecting, but maybe I was just a tad off. Now engine runs just like before. Now the good news. After mowing about 3 acres (not all at the same time) it looks like the oil problem is solved. Piston rings it was, I am pretty sure now. That was exactly what you suspected from the getgo. It used a little bit of oil, but I attribute this to the fact that the engine needs to go through the brake in period and find its sweet spot.  I assume after everything works itself in I will have a good engine with little or normal oil consumption or maybe none. Thanks again for all your help.