Dennis Satyshur has played plenty of rounds of golf at Caves Valley Golf Club.

But few outings at the course where he has been director of golf since 1991 have ever been enough to test his nerves the way yesterday's impromptu 18 holes did during the third round of the U.S. Senior Open in Owings Mills.

"There I was. My score didn't even count, and I was nervous as I could be when we started out," said Satyshur, who played with Mark McCumber as a marker - someone who joins the single, odd-man-out player if a tournament field is left uneven by the cut.

"All of a sudden there were all these people I know, members and everyone else, that were watching me. I was pretty much a wreck."

Satyshur said he hit a great drive on No. 1, knocked in a 20-footer on 18 and shot somewhere in the neighborhood of 80, picking up a few times to ensure a good pace for McCumber.

The top 60 plus ties made the Open cut, which left 63 players for the final two rounds at Caves. McCumber, who shot 1-under Friday to eke into the weekend with a 149, was No. 63. He had the option of playing alone or with the marker that the U.S. Golf Association provided, Satyshur.

"I didn't know Mark too well, but we chatted some earlier this week and he said, 'Absolutely,' " Satyshur said. "Usually if the guy is a decent player and it's someone who knows the course well, that's who you would go to."

Satyshur said he just wanted to help McCumber - who wound up shooting 4-over 75 - play the round at a comfortable pace, but didn't really know how to go about doing that.

"I was trying to get to my ball and play really fast. On about the third hole, Mark kind of pulled me aside and told me to slow down. He said, 'When you go too fast, it makes me go too fast,' " Satyshur said. "He did a nice job of putting me at ease early in the round. We had a nice day after that."

Satyshur found out at 9:30 p.m. Friday that he would be teeing off at 8:45 a.m. yesterday. And this is a guy who's been waking up every day at 5 a.m. to oversee the execution of the tournament.

"I am sure he was just exhausted," said James Flick, the Open's general chairman who has worked with Satyshur for years in preparation for the tournament. "It was a big thrill for him, though."

Added Satyshur: "The adrenaline was going early since I was feeling a bit nervous, but I was absolutely dead by [No.] 11. ... It's been a long week for us, and I am kind of out of gas."

John McPhee will be given the choice this morning of playing with Satyshur as a marker or playing alone.

Irwin gets going

Hale Irwin, thought of as one of the odds-on favorites coming into the Senior Open, shot 2-under 69 yesterday. After two over-par rounds the first two days at Caves Valley, the red figure came 36 holes later than expected for Irwin.

"What I tried to do today was just try to get my swing going and correct some things that I have been doing wrong," said Irwin, 3-over for the tournament. "Today was a good step, but I'm afraid it's a little late."

Irwin, winner of two of the past four Senior Opens, needed a late birdie - on one of the most difficult Open holes in history, the 460-yard, par-4 17th - to stay under par.

"That's an eagle on that hole, my friend," he said of 17, where he hit a 4-iron to 30 feet and drained the putt. "I think it's one of the more difficult holes we'll play."

The breaking point

Jim Thorpe has three-putted eight times during the first three rounds of the Open.

Already unhappy with his putter Friday, Thorpe snapped the club over a knee and flung the remains into some nearby bushes as he left the golf course.

"I was at the point where I had to do something," Thorpe said.

A courtesy shuttle driver asked Thorpe if he could retrieve the putter. He fished it out of the woods, and the head of the blade is currently on display in his bus.

Thorpe, with a new putter, shot the same score - 1-over 72 - he did Friday with the one riding back and forth from the clubhouse to the volunteer parking lot. Thorpe is 1-over for the tournament.

Rough day

Jose Maria Canizares got off to a rough start by double-bogeying the first hole yesterday, then bogeying the sixth hole. One spectator let him hear about it, too, heckling him as he walked up the fairway on the seventh. "I guess not all those people are in New York," said NBC analyst Roger Maltbie, referring to the rather rowdy crowd at this year's U.S. Open at Bethpage State Park in New York.

Sun staff writer Kevin Van Valkenburg contributed to this article.