In almost every war movie ever made, there’s a moment when one of the soldiers shows his mates a photo of his girlfriend and talks about how they’re gonna get married and start a family when he gets back home. He’s smiling when he says it, all full of hope and promise, and you know right at that moment: yep, that dude’s dead.

I got that same sort of feeling when watching Lee Westwood card a 67 in increasingly bad-weather conditions Thursday at the Open Championship. While Rory McIlroy posted a 63 in conditions about as rough as those inside a domed arena, Westwood fought swirling winds and increasing rain, and were it not for a couple late putt-yips, he’d have been even closer.

Thing is, we’ve been down this road with Westwood before, so many, many times. People give Phil Mickelson grief for his inability to close, but Phil’s Mariano Rivera compared to the frustration Westwood has endured in major after major.  

Don’t believe Westwood is snakebit? Take a look at his last four top-5 finishes in majors:

• 2008 U.S. Open: 3rd
• 2009 British Open: T3rd
• 2009 PGA Championship: T3rd
• 2010 Masters: 2nd

Those are the four most famous majors in recent memory: Tiger Woods‘ playoff win over Rocco Mediate, Stewart Cink‘s playoff win over Tom Watson, Y.E. Yang‘s last-second win over Tiger, and Mickelson’s Masters triumph. In other words, Westwood was right there for four of golf’s biggest moments over the last two years — and couldn’t close the deal in any of them. Ouch.

Realistically, Westwood, still hampered by a calf injury, probably won’t be as deep in the mix this weekend, especially given the weather that’s likely to roll in. Still, to get that close again and again and again, only to fall short … that’s got to wear on a fella, you know?

A year ago, Tiger Woods went to Turnberry looking to claim his fourth Open Championship. A course that Tiger was excited to play, he went out early on Thursday and posted a workable 1-over 71. On Friday, Tiger was a part of the afternoon groups, when the weather really turned at Turnberry. His British Open was over when the conditions got nearly unplayable around the famed lighthouse, as Tiger went bogey-double bogey on 11 and 12.

That is, in a nutshell, the British Open. Get stuck in the bad conditions in one of the first two days, and kiss your hopes of a Claret Jug goodbye.

This year, at St. Andrews, the early groups on Thursday had it good. So good in fact that Tiger compared the windless conditions to playing in a dome. The major championship record was given a run by Rory McIlroy. John Daly was able to play the first 11 holes in 7-under. Eighteen of the 54 players that teed off before 9:42 AM were 4-under or better.

Then, just as quick as a drive can find one of the many pot bunkers on this golf course, the weather switched. The wind picked up. It started to rain. The conditions turned almost instantaneously, and the afternoon group had to deal with a totally different St. Andrews.

That is the beauty of links golf. The stuff we call wind in the States is just a breeze, or nothing at all. If your hat isn’t nearly flying off and scrambling down the fairway away from you, it isn’t even worth tossing grass in the air.

Phil Mickelson was the most popular victim of the condition change on this Thursday. Stuck in the afternoon, opposite Woods, Lefty had to navigate a golf course that saw pars as good scores, not birdies. Unfortunately for Phil, 16 pars weren’t nearly good enough, and his 73 has him down on the leaderboard, and another victim of a bad draw.

Friday will be another day. If the early guys can go out in calm conditions and post good numbers, they’ll be able to sit back and watch the afternoon groups battle a wind that is expected to be around 20 mph. If the wind is constant all day, it’ll be the morning guys that never got to see ideal conditions.

Unlike the other three major championships, where being lucky might mean hitting a tree and kicking back in the fairway, it’s all luck of the draw at the British.

There are a few things that just don’t go together. Red meat and diets, cell phones and church and athletes and celibacy.

Another you could add to that list is Phil Mickelson and the British Open. On Thursday at the Open, it was more Mother Nature than Mickelson, but Lefty completed his round in 1-over 73 when it seemed every other big name in the field was going low.

Phil is ten shots back of the leader. He knows that he will need some luck (read: bad weather for the afternoon guys on Friday) in the second round to have a chance at making up ground, and he openly admitted after the round that seeing some of the low scores and calm weather early on Thursday affected him.

It’s a weird thing with Phil and the British. A friend asked me on Thursday, before Phil even teed off, why Mickelson struggled at this tournament. I gave him some answer about Phil always wanting to take pitch shots high, and never really perfecting the bump and run that is much needed around St. Andrews.

The problem is, he has as much talent in his little finger as most of these guys have in their entire arsenal, and creativity is what he banks on. It’s just … Phil can’t do it on these championship courses. This is a man that only has one top-10 in his career at the British. He finished tied for 11th once at St. Andrews, but hasn’t given himself any other chance on this course.

Also, it takes a lot of luck that one can’t control, like Thursday with Phil’s tee time. If he goes out early, with his aggressive nature and ability to get the ball close with his wedges, we might be writing about his 64 or 65. Now, it’s a 73, and a mile away from anything resembling a leaderboard.

For Phil, the years are dwindling away at a chance to take home the Claret Jug. It just seems that there will never be a week when he gets off the airplane in Scotland and is the favorite.

If I was to ask you to name three young players that are the future of golf, you’d most likely give me these three names; Rory McIlroy, Ryo Ishikawa and Rickie Fowler.

McIlroy didn’t do much on Thursday at the British Open besides tie the lowest career round in a major championship and become the first player ever in this Open to post a 63 in the first round. Ishikawa was off early at St. Andrews and got around in 68 shots.

Fowler? Fowler wasn’t as lucky. Playing in his first Open Championship, the 21-year-old American shot a 7-over 79 when most of the field was seeing red by the bunches.

How did the round get so out of hand? Fowler, who went out in 37 shots, not a terrible start in your first British, was even par on his back nine heading to the par-4 15th. That was when young Rickie’s wheels started to fly off.

A bogey on 15, followed by a triple-bogey on 16 and a double-bogey on 17 has Fowler in a scary position of being in last place after the first day. A score like that means that unless he can do some sort of McIlroy impression on Friday (and even that might not be enough), he will be done for the weekend in his first attempt at the only major on foreign soil.

There will be more to come, but this 79 will be one that will always pop up in his head when he returns to the famed links. The only good news? It normally takes people a few rounds to totally get comfortable on the Old Course.

Except for the fact that he beat Tom Watson, depriving us of one of the great sports moments in history, Stewart Cink‘s victory at last year’s British Open was, without a doubt, a win for the good guys. Cink, an everyday cat who just happens to play golf better than almost anybody on earth, has kept a level head even as he’s ascended golf’s highest peaks. (See, for instance, the uses he found for the Open’s Claret Jug trophy, from beer stein to barbecue sauce pitcher.)

Cink also has well over a million fans on Twitter, and Nike Golf decided to get them in on the act as he returned to defend his title. Nike solicited motivational Tweets from Cink’s audience, and stenciled a couple hundred of them onto his golf bag to get him going.

The messages ranged from go-get-’em-champ to goofy. See below for a closeup of some of the Tweets. And count the days until a golfer has a running, ever-changing marquee on the back of his bag.

Follow Cink on Twitter at @stewartcink and Nike Golf at @nikegolf. And hey, while you’re there, follow Devil Ball at @jaybusbee. 

Jerry Pate knows golf. He’s got eight wins on the PGA Tour, including the 1976 U.S. Open, and he’s an accomplished course designer. Throughout the season, he’ll be stopping by Devil Ball to offer an inside-the-ropes look at the week’s upcoming course. Today: The Old Course at St. Andrews.

The earliest record of golf at St. Andrews is found in a license dated in 1552 which permitted the townspeople to raise rabbits on the grounds and "play at golf, futbal, schuteing…with all other manner of pastimes." The proprietor was required "not to plough up any part of said golf links in all time coming," according to The World Atlas of Golf.

Fortunately for golfers worldwide, this decree remains. St. Andrews has given us the ultimate case study on accessible golf facilities, the origin of golf-course strategy, and centuries of championship lore.

The placement of the hazards at St. Andrews is the most recognizable feature of its design. Prinicipal’s Nose, Hell Bunker, Lion’s Mouth, Coffin and the Road Hole Bunker are known by golfers across the globe. The links are scattered with well over a hundred pits placed to protect the favored line of play off the tee or to confound the next shot after the safer route was taken from the tee. 

Many championships have been lost, or nearly lost, in these bunkers. In 1933, Gene Sarazen challenged the 14th hole with a good chance for the Open title. He found Hell Bunker on his second, and again on his third. He closed the hole with an 8 and finished only one shot behind. However, in 2000, Tiger Woods crafted one of the most amazing and laudable accomplishments in St. Andrew’s lore. On his way to a comfortable victory, he played all 72 holes without ever seeing the bottom of a bunker. Many claimed he simply overpowered the venerable layout. However, his impeccable planning and his precision shot-making, particularly in the ever-changing conditions on the links, was simply remarkable.

Countless essays have been written about St. Andrews — its aura, its design, its championships. What is so important about St. Andrews for golf today is not its spirit, or the placement of its hazards, or even stories of ghosts. What we must remember about St. Andrews, the "home of golf," is that St. Andrews in its most basic form is a game space and a way of life for its townspeople.  

Jerry Pate has been designing golf courses for more than 30 years. His portfolio of work includes Old Waverly Golf Club in Mississippi, site of the 1999 United States Women’s Open; Trump National Golf Club Colts Neck (formerly known as Shadow Isle) in New Jersey; Kiva Dunes on the Alabama Gulf Coast; and Rancho La Quinta Country Club in California. See more of his work at www.jerrypategolfdesign.com.   

It happens every year at the Open Championship. You tune into the Saturday morning coverage and right there, on page one of the leaderboard, are a couple names you’ve never seen before. No need to worry; it happens to all of us, even those that get paid to follow this game. You are no less a golf fanatic because you’ve never heard of Thomas Aiken or Matteo Manassero.  

Unlike the other three major championships, the Open Championship is chock full of players who are, for the most part, unknown on this side of the pond. It doesn’t mean these guys can’t play, however. Although the sight of their names on the leaderboard may give you pause, many unknown players have left their mark on the Open Championship over the years. Paul Lawrie ring a bell? Sure, it does now, but the sight of his name near the top of the leaderboard in 1999 sent shockwaves through the golfing community in the States. His eventual win sent shockwaves throughout the entire golfing world, but that’s a different story.

The list of previously unknown players who have impacted the Open Championship over the past decade is long, and although past performances aren’t necessarily a predictor of future results, you can be sure that at least one name on the first page of the leaderboard will surprise many of us come Saturday morning.

So, which players might surprise us this week? Well, if I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it? Seriously, plucking the contenders out of the pile of unknowns is no easy task, but here are few names that you might get to know over the course of the next four days…

Rhys Davies: Davies, pictured at right, played his college golf in the United States, but he grew up playing on the courses in Europe and currently resides on the European Tour, which is probably why he’s one of the lesser-known players in the field this week. He’s having a nice season, though, as he currently ranks seventh on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai and he’s got some major experience. He actually made the cut at Pebble in June. St. Andrews will likely fit his eye more than Pebble, which could result in a strong finish this week.

Fredrick Andersson Hed: Andersson Hed won the Italian Open in early May and followed that up with a runner-up finish at the BMW Championship two weeks later. His game has fallen off lately, but he’s a proven winner in Europe and he’s capable of making a run this week.

Robert Rock: Rock has not exactly set the world on fire this season; he currently ranks 39^th on the Race to Dubai list, but he’s one of the few lesser-known players with Open experience on this course. Rock made the cut here in 2005, but he fell apart on the weekend. With more experience under his belt, including a top 20 at the 2006 Open Championship, Rock should play well through the weekend this time around.

Zane Scotland: Do I really need to explain this one? The folks at ESPN would love for a player named "Scotland" to play well at St. Andrews. The weather is always unpredictable, which brings everyone into the mix. If you don’t believe it, check out the results from the 2003 Open Championship when Ben Curtis entered the week ranked 396^th in the World Rankings and took advantage of poor conditions to capture the win.