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When it was announced that Golden State Warriors point guard Steph Curry would get a sponsor exemption into this week's Ellie Mae Classic on the Web.com Tour, the backlash across the golf world was as deep as it was loud. Players, media members and loads of folks who follow the sport cried that this was unfair to other, more deserving professionals and that Curry, a 2-handicap, would make a mockery of the tournament.

The first part of that debate may rage on, but the second will not after Curry shot back-to-back 74s on Thursday and Friday and beat three pros in the field, tied another and defeated another amateur playing this week.

After all the trash talking he endured from other pros, it was a nice acquittal of a game many (including me!) thought would not be good enough to crack 80. Dawie Van Der Walt even said he would eat his own golf bag after Curry shot 74 in Round 1 if he broke 80 in Round 2!

"I wanted to shoot a few strokes less, but after yesterday, I'm extremely proud of backing that up with another solid round because it could have gone either way," Curry said after his second 74, which included two birdies and six bogeys. "It could have been those 80, 90 talks I heard going into the tournament."

"All day yesterday I was checking who said what, and I don't usually do that, but it was cool to hear the chatter that was going on," Curry told USA Today. "Then it got into the social media stuff, but a lot of people had their foot in their mouth, so that was cool, to set a little fire in that regard."

He probably heard a lot worse than that, and with good reason. The Web.com Tour is difficult. Any professional event is tough. Even though Curry is a solid amateur player, the leap between that and playing in the pros (even the minor leagues) is massive. What he did this week at the Ellie Mae Classic could not have been more impressive and clearly shows how competitive and good he is in all realms of sports.

Hey, it impressed three-time major champion Jordan Spieth after all.

"That was awesome what he did yesterday," Spieth told the Associated Press on Friday at the Bridgestone Invitational. "I think he certainly beat most everybody's expectations, but I don't think that really surprised him. It was pretty cool -- really cool -- to see. You see him fist-pumping out there, and just him talking about how nervous he was when he heard his name called, it just makes us feel a little better when sometimes some of the stuff he does looks like a robot."