It is one thing to be subjected to an 18-hole round that lasts an interminable five hours, 35 minutes and you spend nearly every hole watching the group in front of you perform more figure-eights in the fairway than Kristi Yamaguchi. The agonizing act of watching them plod through each shot, and watching their partners sit in the cart until it is their turn to hit, would be enough to frustrate even Ben Crane, the PGA Tour's most notorious slowpoke.

This is what happened to me Friday afternoon at a public course in Western Pennsylvania I won't mention. Was the glacial pace acceptable? Absolutely not. Was it understandable? Of course, because too many players don't understand the first thing about etiquette and pace of play.

But, someone needs to explain to me how a threesome of talented young golfers, none older than 29, can take nearly three hours to play nine holes and five hours to play 18 holes on a perfectly sunny day? And in a tournament staged by an organization whose purpose, among other things, is to enforce the rules?

That, though, is what happened Tuesday in the final round of the West Penn Amateur, the oldest tournament in Western Pennsylvania that was celebrating its 108th year. But, after the final group started at 9:13 a.m. and finished at 2:15 p.m. at the wonderfully restored Bedford Springs Resort, the tournament felt as though it had morphed into year No. 109.

"The officials can only do so much," said Jeff Rivard, executive director of the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association. "The players need to say, hey, we need to pick it up."

After the final threesome of Nathan Smith, Jeffrey Varga and Sean Brannan took two hours, 50 minutes to play the first nine holes, Rivard put the clock on the group after the 12th hole and warned each player once about a slow time. By that time, the threesome had fallen two holes behind the group in front.

None of the players in the group was assessed a penalty for slow play. And, with Rivard monitoring their pace, they played the final six holes in a mercurial 65 minutes -- a pace that would have resulted in a three-hour, 15-minute round.

"They need to do that when the officials aren't watching," Rivard said. "But you'll see one guy getting ready to hit and the other guy won't do a thing till the first guy hits it. You have to be ready to play."

Anyone listening?

Trivia

Only one person has ever won the U.S. Women's Open, the U.S. Women's Amateur and the U.S. Girl's Junior championship. Who is it? Answer at end.

Double take

If they didn't wear different-colored hats on the golf course, you might not be able to tell fraternal twins Ron and Dave DeNunzio apart.

But they have been doing a good job of setting themselves apart the past couple weeks with their exploits on the golf course.

After finishing ninth in the Tri-State Amateur last week, Ron Jr. shot a final-round 69 and finished tied for second in the West Penn Amateur at Bedford Springs.

Brother Dave finished 10th at the Tri-State Amateur and tied for 22nd at the West Penn Amateur, but he recently made 10 birdies and flirted with the course record from the blue tees (62 by head pro Ryan Sikora) at Totteridge Golf Club before finishing with 66. Rocco Mediate holds the course record from the championship tees (63).

The DeNunzio twins, who live in Jeannette, each graduated this spring with a degree in sociology from Rollins College in Orlando, Fla., where they played on the golf team. For now, they plan to compete as amateurs while working for their father, who owns four restaurants bearing his name in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.

"They want to continue to pursue their passion and play in all the amateur events," said Ron DeNunzio Sr. "They'll probably go back to Florida in the winter and continue their education, but if they find they do well and can compete, maybe they'll try to Monday qualify in some professional and try Q-school. Now they have the opportunity to give golf 100 percent of their time."

Travelin' men

The West Penn Golf Association picked a bad time to justify its name.

Despite the soaring price of gasoline, the WPGA has traveled all around Western Pennsylvania for its five biggest tournaments, scheduling them at courses a long way from Downtown -- much to the dismay of young players who can't afford to keep filling their tank.

Consider:

The season-opening Tournament of Champions was at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington; the Mid-Amateur Championship was at Scotch Valley CC in Hollidaysburg; the Men's Amateur was at Bedford Springs Resort; the West Penn Open that begins Monday is at Butler CC; and the Public Links Championship is July 17 at Treasure Lake CC in DuBois.

According to MapQuest, that's a combined 832 round-trip miles from Downtown -- nearly the equivalent of driving round-trip to Charlotte, N.C.

Picturesque

The Club at Blackthorne is still waiting to complete the final nine holes on its Arnold Palmer-designed course and real-estate development in Jeannette. But, if the final nine holes can come close to matching the ninth hole, a 336-yard par 4, Blackthorne might become an attractive alternative as a private club.

The ninth hole has been nominated as one of the Most Beautifully Brutal Golf Holes in America by John Deere Credit, and no wonder: The hole requires a 200-yard tee shot over a lake to a slightly escalating fairway that has three tiers and is surrounded by six deep bunkers.

To see photos of the nominated holes, visit www.JohnDeereCredit.com/BrutalGolfHoles.

Dissa and data

• Marquette senior Mike Van Sickle, a Pine-Richland High School graduate, was named honorable mention All-American by Golfweek. Van Sickle won three tournaments as junior, giving him a school-record six. He also set school records for lowest scoring average (71.39) and rounds of par-or-better (27).

• Two players from the same course -- Brendan Borst, an Upper St. Clair graduate at Penn State, and Ryan Castanet, a South Fayette graduate who plays at Seton Hall -- have qualified for the U.S. Public Links Championship July 14-19 in Aurora, Colo. Borst and Castanet each play out of Hickory Heights GC.

• The American Junior Golf Association will be staging two tournaments in Western Pennsylvania in the next couple weeks -- the first Junior All-Star at Nemacolin, a 54-hole stroke play event that begins Monday at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington; and the sixth AJGA Junior at New Castle CC July 14-17. A qualifier for the New Castle event will be July 13 at Tam O'Shanter GC in Hermitage.

Trivia answer

JoAnne Carner won the Girls Junior in 1956, the U.S. Women's Amateur in 1957, '60, '62, '66 and '68 and the U.S. Women's Open in 1971 and '76.