John Higgins is a Scottish professional snooker players who has won 19 titles both in the first ligue or cup of champions. His career also netted him a large fortune.
Higgins started his professional snooker career as an amateur player. He was an amateur snooker player who had won several tournaments before becoming a professional. Higgins began to win ranking tournaments once he became a professional. He was also among the first players to win all three ranking tournaments during a single season.
Higgins' success continued in the 1994/95 season. He won two more ranking tournaments and a ranking final. He was then crowned World number 1. 1998 marked his first major title. Ronnie O'Sullivan beat him to the World Championship Finale in 2001. He had also reached a final in the Grand Prix. He finished the season as World number one for the first time.
Higgins defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan to win The Masters in 2006's final. He also won the Welsh Open title and the Scottish Masters. His fourth British Open title was won in 2004. He reached the final of European Championship 2005. He was also a finalist of the Championship du monde. He won his second World Championship in 2011. He was also a finalist at the Shanghai Masters and Chinese Open. In 2009, he reached both the final of the International Open or the World Championship. He won the Ruhr championship. In 2009, he was World number 1.
Higgins is also a finalist of a few non-ranking events. He reached the final of numerous pro-am tournaments, as well as variant finals. He was the first player ever to win three tournament openings in one season. He also became the first person to win a World Ranking title and reach the quarter-finals at a British Open tournament.
John Higgins has reached final of eight World Championship tournaments in his career. He also reached the finals in two Masters tournaments: a UK Championship and a Welsh Open. He has been an 18-time runner-up.
Higgins had a turbulent career. An undercover operation conducted by News of the World in May 2010 alleged that John Higgins had arranged matches for a tournament with his manager. A disciplinary committee headed by former Metropolitan Police detective chief superintendent David Douglas investigated the allegations. An investigation revealed that Higgins was not involved in the scandal. Higgins was subsequently suspended from professional competition and fined PS75,000. Higgins was also penalized PS75,000.
Higgins resumed his professional life in November 2010 after his suspension. He reached the finals of the Ruhr Championship as well as the Shanghai Masters. He also reached two finals in 2005/06. He finished the season ranked fifth in the world. He was then replaced as World number one by Welshman Mark Williams. He was ranked 5th in the world in 2013, but he dropped to 12th place in the rankings the year after that.