Amateur's in the Women's Open

Image via WikipediaOne of the notable things about this year's USGA Women's Open will be the number of amateurs that qualified - one of my student's qualified for the third consecutive time as an amateur.
At the San Diego qualifying site, 9 of the top ten qualifiers were amateurs, the exception being Liselotte Neumann, a former Open winner.
Last year at Pine Needles, 4 amateurs made the cut. I'll be surprised if any amateurs play on the weekend at Torrey Pines.
The presence of great amateurs is a good sign for the long term health of the game and it's a great incentive to juniors coming up on the ranks to see that they have a change to play in the national championship as they are grooving their games for the pro ranks.