Arnold Palmer cut a grandfatherly swath through Caves Valley yesterday, his large army of fans content to watch one of golf's enduring legends unabashedly show his age and - for a few wonderful holes - the skill that once made him the greatest golfer on the planet.

He held par for six holes on a steamy afternoon at the U.S. Senior Open, drawing an enthusiastic ovation with every shot. He carried on a jolly banter with the crowd until a nice round unraveled with two troublesome holes that inflated his score to 6-over before the end of his first nine.

"It doesn't matter, Arnie," came a shout from the gallery. "You could be 10-over and we'd still love you."

Good thing, because Palmer finished the round at 82 - 11-over.

"They were fantastic," Palmer said. "They always are. They're always very supportive and encouraging."

That's Arnie's Army for you.

No retreat. No surrender.

They came from all over and from all age groups. There were senior citizens who remember when Palmer was the young stallion who dominated the PGA Tour in the 1950s and '60s. There were thirtysomething duffers who never saw him as anything other than one of the pioneers of the Senior Tour.

And there were the kids, hoisted on their fathers' shoulders at the 10th tee (where Palmer started his round) to get a glimpse of one of the true masters.

Someday, they'll tell their grandchildren about the time they saw the great Palmer knock it straight and true.

Joe Nolan, a 42-year-old commercial real estate broker from Baltimore, came with his 12-year-old son, Joey, for just that reason.

"I specifically wanted him to come and see Arnie play," said Nolan. "He's a big Tiger Woods follower. I'm trying to explain to him that Arnie was to my generation and my father's generation what Tiger Woods is to his.

"It's amazing to see that, at 72, he can still hit the ball the way he does."

Maybe he was never a serious threat to win this event - R.W. Eaks ran away with the first-round lead before Palmer took his first swing - but Palmer is always a threat to win every heart in the gallery.

When he hit into the deep rough on No. 16, he playfully reprimanded the crowd that had gathered around his ball.

"How did it end up so deep in the rough with all you people here?" he said.

"You should have seen it when it was behind the tree," answered a fan.

Palmer skirted the right side of the fairway with his second shot, forcing him to wade into the crowd again.

"I'm not going to bother you here, am I?" he said, getting a big laugh.

He paused for effect. The only thing better than Palmer and his stick is Palmer and his shtick.

"Well, you sure as hell are bothering me."

No. 16 was not a water hole, but it turned out to be his Waterloo. He double-bogeyed to go 2-over, then disintegrated after his tee shot on the 17th sidled up to a tree in the left rough.

Palmer considered chopping the ball back to the fairway left-handed, but finally tried a more conventional shot that traveled about 10 feet and settled again into the tall grass. By the time he putted out, he had posted an ugly quad to go 6-over and his sweet round had gone sour.

"That took the starch out of me," he said. "I might have had a pretty good round if not for those two holes. I was kind of light-footed out there for a while, but that slowed me."

The cheering occasionally gave way to a sympathetic sigh, but it never stopped. The fans come to see an aging Arnie for the same reason they lined up to see the middle-aged Elvis. He's still "The King."

"What little I play, the fans have a great deal to do with it," Palmer said recently. "My game isn't sparkling enough to get me all excited."

Don't misunderstand. He still approaches the game the same way. He still comes to win, even if he is realistic enough to know that he almost certainly won't.

"I haven't ruled out the fact that I might catch lightning in a bottle one round or two and I might play good," he said. "I'm not going to fool myself that I'm playing the kind of game that I can be competitive, but I'm still a competitor."

The heat had to have an impact. Temperatures on the course reached into the mid-90s. The sweat was showing through Palmer's white golf shirt by the time he reached the green on his second hole of the day.

"I'm not complaining about it," he said. "It was a beautiful day. You younger people have to worry about that."

Sun staff writer Don Markus contributed to this article.