Carl Hiaasen and Mike Lupica have been set to script a pilot for an untitled HBO series that centers on Florida-based pro golfer forced to enter the witness protection program.

According to Variety, it is the first collaboration between Hiaasen, the Miami Herald columnist-author, and Lupica, the Daily News sports columnist-author. The longtime friends were pressed by their mutual ICM agent Esther Newberg to hatch a series.

"Mike's a golf fiend and the culprit who encouraged me to rediscover the game after 32 years and keep a journal that formed the basis for my book, 'The Downhill Lie,'" Hiaasen said. "We thought Florida was a great backdrop to superimpose seedy freaks and scumbags, something that appealed to me instantly because they have generated the inspiration for so much of my work."