Fourteen amateurs qualified for the US Open this week in New York City.  Shingo Katayama withdrew from the tournament today due to injury.  The first alternate takes his place and that is amateur teen David Erdy.  He is now the 15th amateur in the US Open field making this '09 field - according to Wei Under Par - the most amateur-laden since 1981.

I received a Tweet on Twitter (redundant?) this morning asking me how I felt about the drag that the amateurs have on field strength.

andygraham66 @waggleroomgolf -any thoughts Stateside, to the fact that this is the weakest major field of the yr, something that used to apply to the PGA

I responded that I think this is a gamble with either of the Opens.  If amateurs play well enough to get through the qualifying events, then they earned a spot in the field.  That does not imply that these 15 amateurs are better than the host of professionals that didn't make it.  Not at all.

The allure of an Open Championship is that anyone has an outside chance to qualify.  Orville Moody is the last player to have gone through both local and sectional qualifying to win the US Open.  That was in 1969.  It's not like these guys are a real drag on the field.  Most miss the cut and, if they make it, are a great story that add to the major plotlines of a tournament.

Let's put it this way.  Amateur players are no more of a drag on the field than the old stalwarts at Augusta each year that have no shot to win.  We're just more sentimental about their past champion status than we are about the 0.1% chance that a player has of going from local qualifying to the US Open.