John Higgins MBE
Name: John Higgins
DOB: May 18th 1975
Nationality: Scottish
Turned Pro: 1992
Highest Ranking: #1 (1998-2000, 2007/8)
Current Ranking: #4
Highest Break: 147×5
Career Highlights: Three times World Champion, Two times UK Champion, Two times Masters Champion, Four times Grand Prix Champion, Four times British Open Champion
In short
When John Higgins secured his second world title in May 2007 he secured his place among the all-time snooker greats. Since then he has added a third world crown just to reinforce this further and standing fourth on the all-time list of ranking event titles, continues to compete for titles at the very highest level.
With an excellent snooker brain, Higgins is widely regarded as having taken over from the great Steve Davis as the best tactician currently in the game. This is not to say that he is a grinder however as with over 400 career centuries to his name (behind only Hendry and O’Sullivan on the all-time list), Higgins is just as capable of scoring heavily when he is in the balls.
It is a measure of how highly Higgins is regarded however that despite his many titles, it is sometimes argued that he should have won more during his career. Following his first world title in 1998, many expected him to go on and win several more but for one reason or another it took him another nine years to win his second. Now on three and playing as well as ever though, he is certainly making up for lost time.
Most other players can only dream of winning as much as Higgins has though so when he hangs up his cue he should have absolutely no regrets and when looking back on his career. Happily married and with two young children, as Higgins himself has said, when he retires he won’t be wishing that he had spent more time on a snooker table.
Early career
Having come through the ranks at the same time as contemporaries such as Mark Williams and Ronnie O’Sullivan, Higgins got a taste of things to come from a very early stage in his career. Although he lost to Williams in the British U-16 Championship, he managed to defeat the Welshman to claim the 1991 World Masters before turning professional for the 1992/3 season.
Despite his amateur successes the start to his professional career was surprisingly unremarkable however, his best result during his debut season being a run to the last 16 at the Rothmans Grand Prix.
Breakthrough
Starting the 1994/5 season at 51st in the rankings, it was time for Higgins to announce his talents on the world stage. He won his first ranking event at the Grand Prix with a 9-6 win over Dave Harold before backing this up with wins in the International Open and British Open. In addition he reached the final of the prestigious Benson and Hedges Masters for the first time as well as the Regal Welsh where he lost to Ronnie O’Sullivan and Steve Davis respectively. As a result of this fantastic season Higgins was up to 11th in the rankings and well positioned to continue his success in the following seasons.
This he did in 1995/6 by winning a further two ranking event titles and reaching his first World Championship quarter-final. This put him up to second in the rankings where he was to remain until 1998.
Top of the world
Having continued to perform consistently well in ranking events, Higgins came into the 1998 World Championship with an outside chance of becoming world number one if he could win the event with Stephen Hendry going out in round one. Hendry’s defeat to old foe Jimmy White at the first hurdle gave Higgins the chance and he was not to be denied. After he had beaten Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-finals he faced defending champion Ken Doherty in the showpiece final. Ending the tournament with a tally of 14 centuries (a new record), he defeated the Irishman 18-12 to take his first world title and become world number one.
Having achieved these feats Higgins wasn’t about to rest on his laurels, claiming both the UK and Benson & Hedges Masters titles in the following season. Unfortunately however his reign as world champion was to come to an end in the semi-finals at the Crucible following a 17-15 reverse to Mark Williams. Although retaining his spot at the top of the rankings, Higgins later claimed that he was thrown by Williams’ failure to shake hands at the start of the final session resuming at 14-10 ahead. He said:
“It completely threw me for the whole session. Instead of concentrating on the match and trying to get to 17 frames I was wondering why he did that, even though it was probably just an oversight on his part.
“Who knows where my career would have gone from that point if I’d beaten him? I could have won three or four world titles by now but it’s all in the past now and you have to move on.
Moving on to 1999/2000, although Higgins enjoyed another successful season, he failed to match the performances of old foe Mark Williams who not only beat him in the semi-finals of the World Championship for a second consecutive year, but went on to win the title and a year later, move ahead of John in the rankings. This was despite Higgins reaching his second world final in 2001 where he lost 18-14 to Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Fatherhood and faltering form
He responded to this setback in the best possible way in 2001/2 however by becoming the first man to win the opening three major tournaments in a season. Despite this, following the birth of his first son Pierce, Higgins appeared to take his foot off the gas for a long period. In fact it was to be another three years before he was to win another ranking event title, the 2004 British Open against countryman Stephen Maguire.
Back to his best
It was to be the 2005/6 season where Higgins really showed his undoubted class again though, firstly winning the Grand Prix with a stunning display against Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final. He set a then record of 494 unanswered points as he racked up four consecutive centuries as against an opponent who had no answer on the day. He followed this up by beating O’Sullivan again in the final of the Wembley Masters, showing his nerve to make a match winning clearance of 64 in the deciding frame.
As a result of this form he entered the 2006 World Championships as the favourite to win the event for the second time, but suffered a surprising defeat to Leicester’s Mark Selby in the first round. Nevertheless this was still his best season for many years and he was back among the top four of the rankings.
Second World title
Having expressed his desire to win a second world title shortly before the start of the tournament, he was not to be denied any longer. A year later in his third final he once again faced Selby and this time prevailed in what was the latest finish to a World final ever seen. He not only took the trophy but he made the 1,000th century break to be made at the Crucible theatre during his semi-final match and regained the number one position in the world rankings for the first time in seven years.
The future
Having achieved this, the 2007/8 one was a disappointing one for Higgins who failed to reach a ranking semi-final during the entire season. His world title defence came to an end in the second round against Welshman Ryan Day despite an impressive demolition of the dangerous Matthew Stevens in his opening match.
One positive that was to come out of the season however was Higgins’ announcement that he was to be involved with the creation of a snooker World Series that would bring the sport’s top players to mainland Europe. The initial events that have taken place during 2008 have proved to be a resounding success and hopefully this will be the start of something big.
2008/9
On the playing side, Higgins is still more than capable of competing with the best and started the 2008/9 season with a run to the semi-finals of the opening ranking event of the season. He went even further at the Grand Prix when he won it for the fourth time, taking his 19th ranking title in the process as he proved that he still has what it takes to win the big events.
He continued to perform well for the rest of the season, consistently winning his opening round matches and reaching the final of the China Open before heading to the Crucible in pursuit of what would be his third world title. At 12-10 and 12-11 down against Jamie Cope and Mark Selby respectively in the early rounds it looked like he might have to wait another year but he showed all of his class in both matches to hit back and once in the semi-finals, he never really looked back.
Having resisted a storming comeback from young Mark Allen to move into his fourth world final, John then produced his best snooker of the week (and arguably his best for a couple of seasons), to defeat 2005 champion Shaun Murphy 18-9 and clinch a memorable triumph. Up alongside Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Spencer as three time winners of snooker’s greatest prize, John also goes into the 2009/10 season with a terrific opportunity of reclaiming the world number one spot for what would be a fourth season.
Tournament Victories:
Ranking Event wins (20)
| Event | Year |
| World Championship | 1998, 2007, 2009 |
| UK Championship | 1998, 2000 |
| Grand Prix | 1994, 1999, 2005, 2008 |
| British Open | 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004 |
| Regal Welsh Open | 2000 |
| German Open | 1995, 1997 |
| International Open | 1995, 1996 |
| European Open | 1997 |
| China International | 1999 |
Non-Ranking Event wins (10)
| Event | Year |
| Wembley Masters | 1999, 2006 |
| Scottish Masters | 2001 |
| Champions Cup | 2001 |
| Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge | 1998, 1999 |
| Euro-Asia Masters Challenge | 2007 |
| Premier League | 1999 |
| Irish Masters | 2000, 2002 |
