|
John Higgins joined
the professional ranks in 1992 alongside two other players who
have proved to be his main rivals ever since, Ronnie O'Sullivan
and Mark Williams. Previously John had beaten Mark to win the
junior title at the 1991 Mita World Masters but lost to him
in the final of the British under-16 championship.
Although he managed to reach the last sixteen of the Grand
Prix, his other results in that first season were only modest
and he could only achieve a ranking of 122. Slightly better
results in 1993/94 took him up to 51st but there were little
signs of what was to about to happen.
Whatever John did before the start of the next season certainly
seemed to have worked for in only the second event, the Grand
Prix, he beat Dave Harold 9-6 to take his first title. Not
content with that he beat Steve Davis to win the International
Open and followed that with victory over Ronnie O'Sullivan
to take the British Open as well. Three ranking titles in
a season are rare enough but for someone ranked only 51st
it was nothing short of sensational, especially when you add
runner up in the Regal Welsh and the Benson & Hedges Masters,
as well as a first visit to the Crucible. John had spectacularly
jumped to eleventh in the rankings.
In 1995/96 the success continued and in only two ranking
events did he fail to reach at least the quarter-finals. He
retained his International Open title and added the German
Open finishing runner up in the Grand Prix and British Open.
The season ended with a quarter-final in the world championships
and in other events he was runner-up in both the Malta Grand
Prix and the Charity Challenge. He was now up to second in
the world rankings. The next season saw the revival of the
World Cup and John, with his colleagues Stephen Hendry and
Alan McManus, took the title in Bangkok. On the ranking circuit
only one title was added to the collection, the European Open,
but John was runner-up in the UK with two other semi-final
spots and another world quarter-final to consolidate his second
place in the rankings.
He featured in no less that eight major finals in 1997/98,
six of them ranking events. He was runner-up in the Grand
Prix and the Malta Grand Prix, and after a failure in the
UK, took the German Open title for a second time. He followed
this with another runner-up in the Regal Welsh before collecting
the non-ranking Charity Challenge title. He then lost in the
Scottish Open final before collecting the British Open title
on his way to the Crucible. He had not previously progressed
beyond the quarter-finals but he knew that there was an outside
chance he could get to number one in the rankings. To achieve
this, not only did he have to win the world title, but also
Hendry would need to lose in the first round. Well Jimmy White
obliged by putting Stephen out of the running and John did
the rest. A comfortable 18-12 victory over holder, Ken Doherty
saw him World Champion and world number one.
1998/99 saw him collect the UK title and he also won the
Benson & Hedges Masters as well to hold the three biggest
titles in snooker at the same time. The China International
also came his way and he reached the semi-finals at the Crucible
in the defence of his world championship. He comfortably retained
his number one ranking position and, for good measure, added
the Premier League title and a second Charity Challenge as
well. In 1999/2000 he took a second Grand Prix title as well
as the Welsh Open for the first time and semi-finals came
in both the world and UK championships. About the only thing
left for John was an elusive 147 maximum but that came as
well in the Nations Cup and, to prove it was no fluke, he
did it again a few weeks later on the way to winning the Benson
& Hedges Irish Masters. Brilliant season though it was,
Mark Williams had a better one and John lost his number one
ranking position to the Welshman.
In 2000/01, John trounced Mark Williams in the UK Championship
final at Bournemouth but had to pull out of the Grand Prix
to attend a wedding. He helped Scotland clinch the Nations
Cup and solid if unspectacular results followed but at Sheffield
his form looked good and he went all the way to the final.
There however he came up against Ronnie O'Sullivan in unstoppable
form and he had to settle for the runners-up cheque. The result
also meant that Ronnie had pushed him another place down the
rankings to third.
John has won every major title in the game and £2,709,752
in prize money to the end of the 2000/01 season. His fourteen
ranking and six other major titles put him third behind only
Hendry and Steve Davis among the most prolific winners in
the modern game. He would however like to add at least one
more world title to that list if he is to be regarded as one
of the true greats of the sport.
|
