John Higgins Profile

Full name: John Higgins
Birth date: 18th May 1975
Born in: Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, Scotland

Nickname: THE WIZARD OF WISHAW

Known for: His incredible talent as one of top all-time players

John Higgins MBE (born 18 May 1975 in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire) is a Scottish professional snooker player and the reigning World Champion. With four world titles in all (1998, 2007, 2009, 2011) he is fourth overall in the modern era, behind Stephen Hendry (7), Steve Davis (6) and Ray Reardon (6). To date, he has won a total of 24 ranking titles and compiled over 400 competitive century breaks, including five maximum 147 breaks. Since the 1996/1997 season he has never dropped below 6th in the world rankings.

Turning professional in 1992, by the 1994/1995 season he was the first teenager to win three ranking events in a season. In just his third season he had climbed to number 11 in the rankings. In the 1996 UK Championship he lost 10-9 in the final to the then six time World Champion Hendry. Two years later, after a then-tournament record 14 centuries, he won his first World Championship by beating defending champion Ken Doherty 18-12. The win saw him ranked World Number 1 for the first time, ending the eight year reign of Hendry. He added the UK Championship and the Masters the following season to become just the third player after Davis and Hendry to hold the Triple Crown of World, UK and Masters titles simultaneously.

More on John Higgins, scores, results, events and tournaments.

In the World Championship in 2007, Higgins beat Michael Holt, Fergal O’Brien, Ronnie O’Sullivan, and Stephen Maguire en route to the final. His break of 122 in the 29th frame of his semi-final against Maguire, on recovering from a deficit of 10-14 in the final session to prevail 17-15, was the 1,000th century to be made at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield since the World Championship was first staged there in 1977. In the final, Higgins held a 12-4 advantage over Mark Selby overnight, but Selby reduced his arrears to a single frame on day two. However, at 14-13, Higgins rediscovered his form to win four consecutive frames to clinch the match 18-13 to secure his second World title at 12:54 a.m., the latest finish to a World final (equalled when Neil Robertson beat Graeme Dott in 2010); and nine years after his first title – the longest time span between successes since Alex Higgins (1972, 1982), and the longest at The Crucible. He regained World no. 1 status.

In the 2009/10 season, as reigning World Champion, he lost 5-6 on the black ball to Neil Robertson in the semi-final of the Grand Prix; and 8-10 to Ding Junhui in the final of the UK Championship, after surviving a comeback by Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-final when leading 8-2, to advance 9-8 the previous evening. he also defeated Neil Robertson 9-8 during the tournament. He captured the Welsh Open title by defeating Allister Carter 9-4 in the final, and ended the season as World no. 1 despite an 11-13 loss to Steve Davis in round two of the World Championship.

On 2 May 2010, Higgins and his manager, Pat Mooney, a World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) board member, were the subject of match-fixing allegations after being filmed in a sting operation conducted by the News of the World newspaper. The newspaper alleged that Higgins and Mooney had agreed to lose four frames in four separate tournaments in exchange for 300,000 euros, and further discussed the mechanics of how to fix a frame, which tournaments and opponents to choose, and how to transfer the money to Higgins.

A full investigation was conducted into the allegations by David Douglas – a former Metropolitan Police detective chief superintendent, and head of the WPBSA’s disciplinary committee. Higgins was cleared of the charges but received a six-month ban, backdated to the start of his suspension period, and was fined £75,000.

(Source: Wikipedia).

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