Rob Cimarolli, a civil engineer by profession, built a five-shot lead and was the only player under par after the first round of the 36-hole West Penn Mid-Amateur Championship. That was all he needed to hold off a bunch of rain-soaked pursuers at Pittsburgh National Golf Club.

Even when he started and finished his final round with double bogeys.

Despite shooting 77 in the afternoon, Cimarolli, 34, finished at 2-over 146 and held on for a two-shot victory over Sean Knapp of St. Jude to win the tournament for players 25 years of age or older -- his first Western Pennsylvania Golf Association title.

"I didn't want to know what the lead was when I was teeing off [in the second round]," said Cimarolli, who plays out of Frosty Valley Golf Club, a nine-hole layout in Upper St. Clair. "It's just my thing. I'd rather not [know]. I don't like to know. I just wanted to go out and play."

After shooting 3-under 69 in a driving rainstorm and building a five-shot lead in the morning, Cimarolli could not blame the burden of holding such a big lead on his poor start in the afternoon. Unlike the morning, when Cimarolli nearly holed his approach at the first hole for eagle, he double-bogeyed his first hole -- he started at No. 10 -- to begin the second round.

And, even though he nearly hit his tee shot out of bounds on the par-4 ninth, his final hole, the closing double bogey still did not hurt him. Knapp, who shot 75 in the morning, shot 73 in the afternoon to finish at 148, two shots back.

"I think the rain kept me from thinking about what I was shooting," Cimarolli said about his morning round that featured just one bogey -- at the par-4 fifth. "The course started off playing firm and, when it started raining a lot, maybe the others weren't prepared."

Cimarolli had one of just two rounds under par among the field of 53 players. Pittsburgh National, a 7,066-yard layout in West Deer, played so difficult in the rain that the two-round scoring average was 79.65. What's more, there were more double bogeys (117) than birdies (116).

"The greens were so firm and they absorbed so much water," said Knapp, who won the Pennsylvania Public Links Championship last week at Hickory Valley Golf Club in Reading. "Any other course, it would have been unplayable."