John Higgins was a professional Scottish snooker player for 19 years. He has won 19 titles, including the cup of champions and first ligue. He has also earned a substantial fortune from his career.
Higgins started out as an amateur snooker player. Higgins had won many amateur tournaments before turning professional. After becoming professional, Higgins began winning ranking tournaments. He was also among the first players to win all three ranking tournaments during a single season.
Higgins' success continued during the 1994/95 season. He won two additional ranking tournaments, and a final. Then, he became the World number one. 1998 marked his first major title. In 2001, he lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final of the World Championship. He had also reached the final of the Grand Prix. He finished the season as World number one for the first time.
Higgins played Ronnie O'Sullivan as a batsman during The Masters 2006. He also won the Welsh Open and Scottish Masters. His fourth British Open title was won in 2004. In 2005, he reached the final of the European Championship. He was also a finalist at Championship du Monde. He won his second World Championship in 2011. He was also a finalist of the Shanghai Masters Open. In 2009, he reached finals of the International Open Championship and the World Championship. He also won Ruhr Championship. He was World number one for the 2009 season.
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 became the first player in history to win three of the opening tournaments within a single season.
John Higgins is a professional who has reached the final of eight World Championship tournaments. He has reached the finals at two Masters tournaments including a UK Championship, Welsh Open, and Grand Prix. He has been a runner up 18 times.
Higgins had a turbulent career. News of the World undercover team discovered that John Higgins' manager and John Higgins had set up matches in a tournament. The allegations were investigated by David Douglas, former chief superintendent of Metropolitan Police Detectives. An investigation revealed that Higgins was not involved in the scandal. Nonetheless, Higgins was suspended from professional competition for six months. Higgins was also penalized PS75,000.
Higgins returned to work in November 2010 after being suspended. He reached the finals in the Shanghai Masters as well the Ruhr Champion. He reached two other finals during the 2005/06 season. He finished the season fifth in the world. Mark Williams of Wales replaced him as the World number one. In 2013, he was fifth in the world, but he dropped to 12th in the rankings in the next season.