John Higgins, a Scottish professional snooker player, has won 19 titles over a career that spans 19 years. His career has also brought him a significant amount of wealth.
Higgins began his professional career playing snooker as an amateur player. He was an amateur snooker player who had won several tournaments before becoming a professional. Higgins became a professional and began winning ranking tournaments. Higgins was also the first player to win three ranking tournaments within a single season.
Higgins' success continued for the 1994/95 year. He won two additional ranking tournaments, and a final. Then, he became the World number one. 1998 was his first major title. Ronnie O'Sullivan lost the World Championship final to him in 2001. He had also reached a final in the Grand Prix. He was World number one at the end of the season for the first-time.
Higgins fought Ronnie O'Sullivan during the 2006 season. He won the Welsh Open as well as the Scottish Masters. His fourth British Open title came in 2004. He reached the final of European Championship 2005. He was also a finalist at the Championship du monde. In 2011, he won the second World Championship. He was also a semifinalist in the Shanghai Masters, Chinese Open, and Shanghai Masters. 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. Higgins reached the finals of many pro-am and variant tournaments. He became the first player in history to win three of the opening tournaments within a single season.
John Higgins has reached final of eight World Championship tournaments in his career. He reached the finals for two Masters tournaments, including a UK Championship tournament, a Welsh Open tournament, and a Grand Prix tournament. He has been a runner-up 18 times.
Higgins' career was not without controversy. News of the World undercover team discovered that John Higgins' manager and John Higgins had set up matches in a tournament. David Douglas, former Metropolitan Police detective chief supervisor, was the head of the disciplinary committee that investigated these allegations. The investigation found that Higgins did not have any involvement in the scandal. Nonetheless, Higgins was suspended from professional competition for six months. Higgins was also penalized PS75,000.
Higgins resumed professional work in November 2010 following his suspension. He reached the final of the Ruhr Championship and the Shanghai Masters. He reached two other finals during the 2005/06 season. He finished the season as the fifth-ranked man in the world. Mark Williams of Wales replaced him as the World number one. He was ranked 5th in the world in 2013, but he dropped to 12th place in the rankings the year after that.