Scottish Pool Association

Extended News

Pat Holtz returned to 8ball winning ways at IM4, beating Danny Kinney in a final frame decider, at the Chieftain Hotel Inverness, the northernmost venue in which the IM is held. It’s always a good weekend in the Chieftain, the staff cannot do enough for you, the tables are well looked after all weekend, and the Invernesian hospitality in general, is second to none. It baffles me therefore, why there are so many walk overs in this event; come on, give Inverness a try if you’ve never been. You’ll want to go back I promise you ;-)

Anyway, back to the tournament itself, and the pre event tie of the first round did not materialise as Pat dodged a bullet by avoiding the non appearing Jamie Burnett. I think however, had the tie been played Silky would still have had too much for the snooker pro. Over to our two international Invernesians, Iain Gillies and Gavin Phillips to take star billing in the first round then as Iain took on and beat Monklands’ Martin “Fernando” Linden while Gavin lost out in a final frame decider to our eventual runner up Danny.

The tie of the round in the last 64 undoubtedly was Pat Holtz v Scott Gillespie. The winner of IMs 1 and 2 was blown away by our eventual champ however, as Pat ran out he 6-1 winner. Billy Henderson v Fred Williams was another tasty tie. Fred is in my opinion one of the most improved players over the last few years, whilst Billy is getting back near to his best form so this tie on paper was a cracker. It did not disappoint either, as Fred edged a closely fought match 6-3. A team player Martin Fisher overcame a potential banana skin in Motherwell youngster Thomas McCallum, beating him by the same scoreline. While we are on the subject of youngsters, either I am getting old or pool players are getting younger….. (no answers required here thanks!) A team member John Macfarlane found that out to his cost as Midlothian’s rising star Danny Lunn defeated him by 6 frames to 2, whilst his Y & J counterpart Ryan Davie was defeating the excellent Paisley potter Stevie Robertson giving up only one more frame than his Midlothian mate.

So whilst a few younger stars were progressing in the lower part of the draw, the top half of the last 32 was positively teeming with experience! Pat Holtz progressed at the expense of Gary Scott, Iain Gillies motored on, this time disposing of Ayrshire’s Scott Lynn. Stuart “Jonah” Johnstone beat George Fagan 6-3, whilst Ross McInnes ended Midlothian’s Russell Young’s tourney The tie of this round however again belonged to the youngsters. It’s hard to think of Jayson Shaw as still a youngster as he’s been playing for so long and playing at the highest level for so long, yet he’s still but a “bairn”. Jayson’s match with Kilsyth’s Ryan Davie was a joy to watch and went the whole way, and in fact Jayson’s finish attempt in the decider was thwarted only by a ball bouncing back out of the pocket leaving Ryan the chance to clear, which he did to take the tie, and put Kilsyth pool on the map! Another cracking tie in this round was Danny Kinney v Colin Campbell. This was another tie which went the whole way with Danny obviously coming through on his journey to the final.

Into the last 16 then and the first tie of the round was Pat Holtz v Iain Gillies. Two very experienced campaigners, neither giving an inch in the determination to progress. In the end, Pat had just enough to take him through in yet another deciding frame tie in this event. Ross bowed out at this point, beaten 6-3 by Jonah while his successor as A team manager Graham McKeown exited at the hands of Monklands’ Paddy McMullen. Kilsyth’s Ryan Davie continued his impressive run, taking the scalp of another proven tournament winner in Scott “Bossman” Ross. His Y & J counterpart was equally impressive, taking out one of the most consistent players over the past 10 years or so Alan Reynolds, in yet another decider, while Braes’ Steven Bennie, quietly crept into the quarters by defeating Martin Fisher 6-3.

In the top half of the quarters Pat efficiently disposed of Jonah by 7 frames to 2 and Ryan Davie came unstuck against his Airdrie League colleague Paddy McMullen, but Ryan can leave this event with his head held high and a scalp or two under his belt. I’m sure they’ll not be your last Ryan. In the bottom two, Danny Lunn continued his path through the field by beating Steven Bennie 7 -4. I watched this particular match it the breaks and dishes in it were fantastic to watch. It’s really quite an easy game when you see it like this!! Our final semi finalist was of course, Danny Kinney who beat the reigning Scottish Champion Alex McDowell by the odd frame in 13. I didn’t see much of this match as it was on at the same time as Danny v Bennie, but again, by all accounts this match was a cracker.

Semi finals then, and Pat Holtz maintained his devastating form by beating Paddy McMullen, repeating the scoreline from his quarter final, and the battle of the Dannys in the bottom half resulted in the superior experience of Mr Kinney prevailing over youngster Lunn. Again though, as with Ryan, I am sure this is not the last we have heard of young Mr Lunn at the business end of tournaments either. Well done to both Danny and Ryan in this event.

The final itself was another impressive affair, which Pat edged to take another IM title back to Larkhall with him. Pat deserves a lot of credit for winning this event, not just for the players he had to beat to do so, but also for the fact that 9 ball has been his main game of late. It’s a huge achievement winning an IM at the best of times, so well done Pat!

And so ends another successful event in the Chieftain, despite the obvious technical difficulties, which we will try our best to overcome for next year’s visit. A big thank you to Ralph and all his staff, and Iain Gillies, for all their help and hospitality over the weekend, we look forward to next year. And not just for the promise of Mrs G’s home baking. Honest ;-)

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