History alley separates champions from bluffers and mere money-makers THE 18th tee at Muirfield, history alley, is one of the epic finishing holes of world golf, where we hope that even the largest, shallowest egos in the modern game sense a deeper meaning to what it is they do. In the the final of the Open Champion those 470 theatrical yards made them pause yet again, testing their dreams. You could see it in the body language: the rookies who dared; the old lions whose hips suddenly ached a little less; the bluffers who tried to tell themselves it was just another hole; the losers who spat in disgust.