People can say what they wish about Patrick Reed... smug, arrogant, the playground bully that you'd like to see punched in the throat, etc.
But the guy, although not quite top-5 material as he maintained a couple years ago, is certainly a solid player who is extremely competitive at the moment and nearer to the top-5 than the bottom-50, for sure.
Ricky Barnes... he will, someday, bottle his nerves and break through. The analysts talk about his swing deficiencies as if they've never heard of Jim Furyk or Lee Trevino. Of course, I'm not comparing Barnes to either of those two, but if he continues playing well on Thursday and Friday, being part of the weekend scrum, he will eventually figure it out. There's still a lot of untapped potential there, and I think once he does win - he will win more.
As for Hoffman... Charley has really played some nice golf the past month or so. It was only a matter of time, it was cool to see him make that putt at the last to cash-in.
And equally as nice, I thought, was Billy Horschel's reaction to both Hoffman and Reed afterward. Billy got a bad rap for showing his frustration at Chambers Bay last summer in the US Open, but I think he's a class guy who understands what it means to do what he does for a living, and how important it is to win after a prolonged hiatus for some of his peers.
It wasn't a star-studded field, but it was a very exciting finish nonetheless.