During a career that has spanned 19 years, Scottish professional snooker player John Higgins has won 19 titles in both first ligue and cup of champions. He has also earned a substantial fortune from his career.
Higgins began his professional career playing snooker as an amateur player. Before turning professional, Higgins won a few amateur tournaments. After becoming professional, Higgins began winning ranking tournaments. Higgins also became the first person to win three ranking tourneys in one season.
Higgins continued his success in 1994/95. He won two more ranking finals and one more tournament. Then, he became the World number one. 1998 was his first major title. Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated him in the World Championship final in 2001. He also reached the Grand Prix final. He finished the season at World number 1.
Higgins fought Ronnie O'Sullivan during the 2006 season. He was also awarded the Welsh Open and Scottish Masters. 2004 was his fourth British Open title. He reached the finals of the European Championship in 2005. He was also a finalist at Championship du Monde. He won his second World Championship in 2011. He was also a finalist in the Chinese Open and Shanghai Masters. In 2009, he reached the final of the International Open and the World Championship. He was also the winner of the Ruhr Champion. In the 2009 season, he was the World number one.
Higgins was also a finalist at a variety of non-ranking tournaments. Higgins has reached the final of several 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 made it to the final of eight World Championship tournaments over 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 winner 18 times.
Higgins had a turbulent career. News of the World carried out an undercover investigation in May 2010 to find that John Higgins was involved with a match-fixing operation. The allegations were investigated by David Douglas, former chief superintendent of Metropolitan Police Detectives. Investigation revealed that Higgins had not been involved in the scandal. Higgins was still banned from professional competitions for six months. He was also fined PS75,000.
Higgins returned to work in November 2010 after being suspended. He reached the final of the Ruhr Championship and the Shanghai Masters. He also reached two other finals in the 2005/06 season. He was fifth in the World at the conclusion of the season. The World number one was replaced by Mark Williams, a Welshman. He was ranked fifth in the world in 2013, but fell to 12th in the rankings the following season.