The Scot joins Zhou Yuelong and Graeme Dott in the Winners’ Group.
John Higgins has won Group 3 of the Championship League after beating Kyren Wilson in the final on Saturday in Milton Keynes.
The two-time former champion finally qualified for the Winners’ Group after a consistent week in which he reached the play-off stages of all three preliminary groups.
Higgins was narrowly defeated by Zhou in the final of Group 1 before being denied in the last four of Group 2 by Dott.
However, the 45 year-old made it third time lucky in this year’s Championship League by emerging with success from Group 3.
After finishing top of the round-robin league phase with four wins from his six encounters, Higgins fought back from 2-0 behind to beat Tom Ford 3-2 in the semi-finals before subsequently overcoming Wilson 3-0 in a scrappy final.
Four more players will qualify for the Winners’ Group before the overall champion is determined at the beginning of April.
Wilson, Ford, Zhao Xintong, and Mark Selby will be granted with another chance when the Championship League resumes in February.
Judd Trump, Jack Lisowski, and Yan Bingtao are the trio of players who are expected to join the fray then.
Meanwhile, former champion Scott Donaldson and Matthew Selt have exited the competition after placing at the bottom of Group 3.
After temporarily being staged as a ranking event earlier this campaign, this Championship League reverts back to its original non-ranking status with invites to players based on their ranking.
There are various prize-money bonuses on offer for the players, from winning frames, reaching the play-off stages of each group, and for achieving the highest break.
The overall winner will also be rewarded with an invite to the lucrative Champion of Champions at the end of the year.
Live coverage of Championship League Snooker is available throughout this week via several platforms, which you can check here.
Click here to view the 2021 Championship League Snooker draw.
Featured photo credit: @CLSnooker
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