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 snooker career as an amateur player. Before turning professional, he had won numerous amateur tournaments. Higgins became a professional and began winning ranking tournaments. Higgins also became the first person to win three ranking tourneys in one season.
Higgins' success continued into the 1994/95 seasons. He won two more ranking finals and one more tournament. He became World number 1 for the first and only time. 1998 was his first major championship. Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated him in the World Championship final in 2001. He also reached the Grand Prix final. He was World number one at the end of the season for the first-time.
During the 2006 season, Higgins batted Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final of The Masters. He was also awarded the Welsh Open and Scottish Masters. His fourth British Open title came in 2004. He reached the European Championship final in 2005. He was also a finalist at Championship du Monde. In 2011, he won the second World Championship. He was also a finalist at the Shanghai Masters and Chinese Open. In 2009, he reached both the final of the International Open or the World Championship. He also won the Ruhr Championship. In 2009, he was World number 1.
Higgins is also a finalist of a few non-ranking events. He has also reached the final of a number of pro-am tournaments and variant finals. He was also the first to win three opening tournaments during a single season.
John Higgins made it to the final of eight World Championship tournaments over 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 wasn't without controversy. News of the World conducted an undercover operation in May 2010. It claimed that John Higgins, his manager, had organized 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 determined that Higgins didn't have any involvement in this scandal. Higgins was subsequently suspended from professional competition and fined PS75,000. Higgins was also fined PS75,000.
Higgins resumed work in November 2010, after his suspension. He reached the final of the Ruhr Championship and the Shanghai Masters. He also reached two finals in 2005/06. He finished the season ranked fifth in the world. He was then replaced as World number one by Welshman Mark Williams. He was ranked 5th in the world in 2013, but he dropped to 12th place in the rankings the year after that.