John Higgins is a Scottish professional snooker players who has won 19 titles both in the first ligue or cup of champions. His career has also brought him a significant amount of wealth.
Higgins started out as an amateur snooker player. Higgins had won many amateur tournaments before turning professional. Higgins won ranking tournaments shortly after becoming a professional. Higgins also became the first person to win three ranking tourneys in one season.
Higgins continued his success in 1994/95. He won two other ranking tournaments and a ranking semifinal. He then became World number one for the first time. 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 a final in the Grand Prix. He was the World number one in the season.
During the 2006 season, Higgins batted Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final of The Masters. He also won the Welsh Open title and the Scottish Masters. 2004 was his fourth British Open title. He reached the finals of the European Championship in 2005. He was also a finalist for the Championship du monde. In 2011, he won his second World Championship. He was also a finalist at the Shanghai Masters and Chinese Open. He reached the final of both the International Open as well as the World Championship in 2009. He was also the winner of the Ruhr Champion. In the 2009 season, he was the World number one.
Higgins is also a finalist of a few non-ranking events. Higgins has reached the final of several pro-am tournaments as well as variant finals. He was also the first to win three opening tournaments during a single season.
During his career, John Higgins has reached the final of eight World Championship tournaments. He has also reached finals of two Masters tournaments - a UK Championships, a Welsh Open, as well as a Grand Prix tournament. He has been a runner up 18 times.
Higgins's 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. Higgins was still banned from professional competitions for six months. Higgins was also fined PS75,000.
Higgins returned to work in November 2010 after being suspended. He reached both the final of Ruhr Championships and Shanghai Masters. He also reached two other finals in the 2005/06 season. He finished the season as the fifth-ranked man in the world. The World number one was replaced by Mark Williams, a Welshman. In 2013, he was ranked fifth worldwide, but he fell to 12th the following year.