FRANKLIN – Franklin-Simpson won’t be hard to spot this week at the KHSAA boys’ state golf championship at Bowling Green Country Club.

For the first round of the state tournament Tuesday, the five golfers will wear the same loud, bright red pants and white shirts worn during their dominant Region 3 tournament outing. If they make the cut to Wednesday, they’ll go with gray pants and a red shirt.

It’s not that Franklin-Simpson is attempting to make a Ricky Fowler-like fashion statement every tournament, but if it helps keep scores low, then loud colors it is.

“You’ve got to look good to play good,” senior Alex Gilbert said between his teammates in the pro shop at Franklin Country Club, the team’s home course. “I like it. I think it’s good to be different. I don’t like to be looking the same as other people. If somebody has the same shoes as me, it’s not good.”

Similarly, the 2017 Franklin-Simpson golf team is different than any other from Simpson County in over a decade. Gilbert and fellow seniors Clay Spears and Brandon Fykes, freshman Dalton Fiveash and eighth-grader Chase Wilson have Wildcats golf as the best it’s been since 2005.

The three seniors and Wilson combined to score 290 at last week’s region tournament to automatically qualify the team for boys’ state golf championship.

Gilbert, Spears, Fykes and Wilson all shot in the 70s with Fiveash firing an 80 to give Franklin-Simpson a 20-stroke victory over second-place Bowling Green.

Fiveash will be the first Wildcat to tee off Tuesday at 7:45 on the first hole. All five will be paired with a golfer from Trinity (Louisville) and state powerhouse St. Xavier.

South Warren’s CM Mixon, who defeated Wilson in a playoff for the individual title at Indian Hills Country Club last week, will tee off at 8:30 a.m. while Clark McDougal will start the Purples’ round off on the 10th hole at 7 a.m.

Franklin-Simpson has already proven it can post low scores against the best in the state at Bowling Green Country Club.

For the Bowling Green Invitational Tournament on Sept. 9, the Wildcats shot 327 and finished seventh, one stroke behind Bowling Green, but 36 strokes behind second-place Trinity and 40 behind St. Xavier, which has won three straight state titles and a state-best 21 overall.

“I think we have a really good shot of at least going top five,” Fykes said. “I think we can do better than 290. It’s huge momentum going into state, but we also want to shoot better.”

The Region 3 tournament was the fourth team victory for the Wildcats, who have lived up to every bit of the expectations set not only by themselves, but by every other coach in the region who said the Wildcats would be the team to beat in 2017.

Fykes, Gilbert and Spears have been so close to reaching the state tournament but hadn’t pushed through in recent years. The Wildcats shot 310 at last year’s region tournament, but Greenwood’s 305 was the second-place score.

Two years ago, Clay Spears qualified individual with a 69 and the team shot 301, but Bowling Green fired a 300 to finish second and take that team qualification away from Franklin-Simpson.

“I think we knew going into this year that we should definitely be at the top of our region and one of the favorites,” Spears said. “Just having experience with Brandon, Alex and I playing varsity since seventh grade, we’ve seen how the region has gone. We knew if we just play like we should, then we would be tough to beat and that’s how it worked out most of the year.”

It’s helped that Wilson and Fiveash are pushing those seniors.

Wilson shot a 1-under par 70 at Indian Hills and finished runner-up to Mixon in a playoff hole. Fiveash was 1-under after 12 holes, but finished with an 80. Had Fiveash’s 80 been scored instead of Wilson’s lowest score of 70, the team still would’ve won the region with a 10-stroke cushion.

“That was huge,” Fykes said. “We knew he could do it and we’ve seen sparks of his game this year. It was good timing for him to do it and hopefully he can repeat it.”

Being familiar with Bowling Green Country Club will help Franklin-Simpson this week. All teams will play a practice round Monday at a course known for length and challenging greens.

The 12 teams with the lowest score and the 20 individuals with the lowest will make the cut for Wednesday.

“In pressure situations like state, it’s somewhere you’re comfortable,” Spears said. “At a new place, that would heighten the pressure more. If you’re out of position, you know the course better, knowing how to get back in position to score is big.”