John Higgins was a professional Scottish snooker player for 19 years. He has won 19 titles, including the cup of champions and first ligue. His career has also led to a considerable fortune.
Higgins started his professional career as an amateur snooker player. Before turning professional, Higgins won a few amateur tournaments. 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 during the 1994/95 season. He won two more ranking finals and one more tournament. He became World number 1 for the first and only time. 1998 marked his first major title. In 2001, he lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final of the World Championship. He was also in the Grand Prix final. He finished the season as the World number 1 for the first time.
Higgins defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan to win The Masters in 2006's final. He won the Welsh Open as well as the Scottish Masters. 2004 was his fourth British Open championship. In 2005, he reached 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 the final of the International Open and the World Championship. He won the Ruhr championship. He was World number 1 in the 2009 season.
Higgins was also a finalist at a variety of non-ranking tournaments. 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 reached the finals of eight World Championship tournaments during his career. He has also reached the finals of two Masters tournaments, a UK Championship, a Welsh Open and a Grand Prix tournament. He has been a runner up 18 times.
Higgins's career was not without controversy. News of the World carried out an undercover investigation in May 2010 to find that John Higgins was involved with a match-fixing operation. David Douglas, former Metropolitan Police chief superintendent, investigated the allegations. Investigation revealed that Higgins had not been involved in the scandal. Higgins was subsequently suspended from professional competition and fined PS75,000. Higgins was also penalized PS75,000.
After his suspension, Higgins resumed his professional career in November 2010. He reached the finals of the Ruhr Championship as well as the Shanghai Masters. He reached two other finals during the 2005/06 season. He finished the season fifth in the world. He was then replaced as World number one by Welshman Mark Williams. He was ranked fifth in the world in 2013, but fell to 12th in the rankings the following season.