Tonight will see the debut of four-part documentary series – Driven: Oklahoma State Cowboys, presented by NBC Sports Group in partnership with PGA TOUR superstar Rickie Fowler. NBC Sports will showcase the first three premieres of the series on Golf Channel this evening at 10p with encores running on NBCSN, and the finale on NBC, Saturday on June 16, recapping their historic season culminated by their run at a potential 11th national championship. Driven will span Oklahoma State’s 2017-18 college golf season both on and off the golf course, written and produced by Ollie Stokes. Rickie Fowler, Executive Producer, of the series and Mike McCarley, President, Golf, NBC Sports, spoke with the press about the series last week.
McCarley on the show: This is a long-time project coming together. It really started when Golf Channel made the commitment in 2014 to start covering the NCAAs live on television in a significant way and has evolved quite a bit over the years where we’re now really able to tell the stories of some of the top golf programs and really tell the stories of the future stars of the PGA TOUR and the LPGA, in many instances, across news programming but now this new primetime series, Driven.
Fowler on the his alma mater: When I was asked to join on with Golf Channel and NBC with the Driven project, obviously it was kind of a no-brainer with the first show spotlighting Oklahoma State in Stillwater, something very close to me, a place that’s like a second home, and a place without it, I probably wouldn’t be in the same position I am today. To be able to jump on board and help show the world what college golf is all about, I think it’s been up until the last few years where Golf Channel started to show the NCAAs live, it’s been a pretty quiet space.
Fowler on producing: For me, I mean, kind of getting into the media side of things in the last year, having my own media company now, but just kind of seeing — it’s crazy how much work goes into all of this, and obviously shooting a lot of content to put together 30-minute shows basically. The amount of time that the camera crew and Golf Channel and everyone has put in, it’s amazing. I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of it and have had — I think I’ve talked about the hands on with being there in Stillwater and being with the team in Florida.
