John Higgins made history on Monday with his 4-3 victory over Adam Duffy in the Scottish Open representing his 1000th career win.
Ronnie O’Sullivan might be the man making all the headlines at the moment for the records that he has sent tumbling but Higgins has stolen a march in front of the “Rocket” in one race.
The 43 year-old, a member of the famous “Class of 1992” alongside O’Sullivan and Mark Williams, is the first player to reach the landmark thousand mark – according to respected snooker database CueTracker.net.
Those 1,000 triumphs have occurred from 1,446 encounters, giving him a successful strike rate of 69% that is second only to O’Sullivan among the members of the elite crop of competitors.
Higgins’ first professional victory was over Andrew Fisher in the early qualifying rounds of the 1992 Dubai Classic and he has taken the scalp of all the major stars since.
Als erster und einziger #Snooker-Spieler hat John Higgins gestern die historische Marke von 1.000 Profi-Siegen erreicht. #147sf ππππ΄σ §σ ’σ ³σ £σ ΄σ Ώπ΄σ §σ ’σ ³σ £σ ΄σ Ώπ΄σ §σ ’σ ³σ £σ ΄σ Ώ pic.twitter.com/cjkqGT6LIG
β Not Rolf Kalb (@PseudoRolf) December 11, 2018
Higgins might be disillusioned with his game at present and has even threatened an impending retirement but, whatever happens, he can look back at a career full of remarkable highs.
The “Wizard of Wishaw” is a four-time world champion, three-time UK champion, and a twice Masters winner – putting him fourth on the all-time Triple Crown roll of honour.
Higgins has amassed 30 ranking crowns and has consistently been at the very top of the sport for a staggering 25 years.
O’Sullivan rightly gains the most plaudits for being the best player who has ever lived but Higgins’ achievements cannot be forgotten or denied either.
Along with Williams, who captured a third world title in May at the expense of Higgins, the trio are Snooker’s Trinity.
Interestingly, there is another mini race ongoing in a niche department of the career statistics as three players hunt down Steve Davis’ record of 1,453 matches in total.
Higgins, Williams, and Jimmy White are all within ten games or less of eclipsing that figure from the “Nugget”, who retired from the sport professionally in 2016.
Higgins takes on either countryman Chris Totten or Gerard Greene in the second round in Glasgow this week.
