Possible Bedlam Golf Showdown for National Title Enhances Fowler Documentary

Rickie Fowler is producing a four-part series on Oklahoma State golf, and he picked a heck of a year to do it. The series, dubbed “Driven,” starts on Monday, May 7, on Golf Channel. Fowler fielded questions from us earlier this week on what it’s going to include.

Interestingly the series will feature the Bedlam #narrative quite prominently, and Fowler laughed when he was asked if No. 4 Oklahoma beating No. 1 Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championships recently was good for business.

“I think it’s made it easy for all of us on the outside looking in,” said Fowler. “The boys are taking care of the show on their own in a way there with the winning streak through the spring, and then OU kind of stepping up and beating them at the last two tournaments, and especially conference [championship].

“It’s setting the stage perfectly for regionals and for nationals back in Stillwater. It’s been great to see them have all the success. I want the boys back in Stillwater from Oklahoma State, I want them to get some more individual titles while they’re at it, just to stack up some more trophies. They’ve obviously been playing great as a team, and that’s going to be definitely needed obviously at regionals to make sure that the boys are in Stillwater.”

Oklahoma State won a school record seven straight events in the middle of the season, but they got beat by eight strokes by defending national champion Oklahoma at Southern Hills in the Big 12s.

“It’s going to be exciting for these last couple weeks of playing and make for a great couple of last episodes,” noted Fowler.

Is it ever. There exists a scenario in which, I cannot believe I’m saying this, the reigning champs could be in a match play duel with the best team in the country on that team’s home course for a national championship trophy. And Rickie Fowler, of all people, is making a documentary about all of this!

The genesis for all of this, as with most things Oklahoma State-related, started with Mike Holder. President of golf for NBC Sports, Mike McCarley, said he talked to Holder, and it was OSU’s athletic director who suggested getting Fowler involved.

“Pretty quickly, Mike and I got on the phone and started talking about it,” said McCarley. “He raised with me in one of the first phone calls we had that, you know, Rickie has been great to the school and was always looking for ways to try and help give back.”

Fowler jumped in right away, and his trip as grand marshal last fall during the Baylor football weekend will be featured in the show.

“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,” said Fowler. “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. Not many people knew a whole lot about it.

“Like Mike was saying, that’s kind of where I came into the project was when they started talking about it, and Holder mentioned my name as potentially being someone who could partner up on this project. Being able to use some of the content that we were able to kind of produce and create the week of my trip as being grand marshal for homecoming and being back on campus. Trying to show the atmosphere … around campus and the town and the football game, we were able to kind of create some cool content there, non-golf related, and then I had a kind of bigger role.”

Still, this will mostly be about the golf. OSU has put together an historically good team this season, but pressure will be high as they head off to regionals in Columbus as the 1 seed, and then it will be turned up even more at the NCAAs at the end of May. OU looms. The cameras are ready. Karsten awaits. It’s all pretty storybook, isn’t it?

“The script has played out perfectly … and it’s kind of building for a nice little climax at NCAAs, which we’ll be hosting in Stillwater,” Fowler said.

“It’s all coming together perfectly.”

Here’s the trailer for the show. Tune in on Monday at 9 p.m. for Episode 1.