Scotland's No. 1 Ranked 8 Ball Player
Scotland's Sole Representative on the IPT Tour
Currently Ranked No.5 on the World 8 Ball Rankings
Provisionally Ranked No.2 on the Scottish 9 Ball Rankings
www.patholtz.com
16 March 2006
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I grew up in Hamilton, Scotland with my 3 older brothers (Carl, John & Frank) and younger sister (Mary). My older brothers were very sporty and competitive and we had a small wooden snooker table at home, which we all used to play against each other. It wasn't very long before I was beating their friends and them regularly which they didn't take too kindly to, losing to a young boy of about 10yrs old. My dad (Frank) and uncle (John) were two of the top snooker and pool players in the area and I grew up hoping to be in there shoes one day at the top of the game.
As well as playing pool at home, I played football with my friends and was selected to play for my junior and high school teams. I also played on the weekends with a local boys club called St.Ninian's Boys Guild for the under 14's and under 16's. I won many trophies for all the teams and thoroughly enjoyed my time playing but my first love was pool and I quit playing football once I turned 16yrs to concentrate on pool.
At the age of 16, my parents bought me a slate bed pool table for the attic, which I practised on daily for hours at a time. Within a year of playing in a local pool league, I had won various youth competitions and lost in the senior singles semi-final, which was a great feat as the league contained many experienced top players. I grew in stature very quickly from this, winning local and national senior events and went on to be selected to play for the Scottish International team at the age of 18yrs. I went on to win many International honours for the team including World, European and Home Nation Championships over a span of around 10 years.
At 17yrs old a new snooker club (Embassy) opened up across the street from my parents house and it wasn't too long before I was playing this sport on a daily basis along with my many hours pool practice. There were lots of great young players from the club in those days that went on to achieve professional status in snooker. I played for their snooker team for 3 years alongside Alan McManus, Jamie Burnett, Steven Greave, Robert Millar, Gary Pollock, Steven Maxwell and Robert Chartier. The average age for the team was around 16 years and we went on to dominate the local snooker scene winning all the honours along the way. I hit many century breaks during this time including my highest a 135 total clearance.
In 1989 whilst playing for the Scotland International team at the European Championships in Ireland, I met a young Welsh lass and after coming back from the Championships I decided to pack up my belongings and move home at the age of 20 years to be with her. Our relationship lasted for 6yrs and we have a beautiful daughter Jasmine to remind us of our times together.
I lived in Cardiff, Wales for over 13 years and moved back home in 2002 to spend time with my parent's as my father was terminally ill. I have many great memories of my life spent in Cardiff, a place that will be in my mind forever.
Since moving back home in 2002, I have rekindled my love for pool that had drained away over the past few years.
I have gone on to dominate the pool scene winning many more titles along with way. I love the game again and look forward to each and every tournament practising hard along the way.
I am the No1 ranked player in Scottish 8 ball and hope to emulate this soon at 9 ball, a new sport that I have started playing.
I am the only Scottish player selected from a list of thousands of applicants to be part of the inaugural 8 ball International Pool Tour (IPT) founded by marketing genius Kevin Trudeau.
This has given me a new goal to aim for in life and one that I intend to be successful in. I have given up my full time job as an accountant to give this a 100% commitment. I have recently purchased a 9-foot Diamond pool table from USA to practice at home for hours on a daily basis to fine-tune my game to the highest level possible. Friends and family that know me say that I'm a very determined person with a "will to win" and "never say die" attitude that probably stems from my younger years while growing up competing with my older brothers.
This website has been provided to keep my friends and fans updated as to my progress in the sport. You can follow my achievements at every event by using the schedule and news links on the home page.
If you have any questions or advice you would like to ask me, then drop me an email.
Yours in Sport
Pat Holtz
Visit www.patholtz.com to follow Pat's progress playing in Scotland and around the world on the IPT tour.