Neal Foulds snooker column: John Higgins 'not finished yet' as World Championship draws closer

Few would begrudge John Higgins his victory at the World Open last week, and it was a great pleasure to see this all-time great of the game back to winning ways after a series of near misses over the last couple of seasons.

It’s been such a long road back for him, one that dates back to his defeat to Yan Bingtao in the final of the 2021 Masters, a match John might feel he should’ve won. But surely none of the tough losses he has had to stomach will have stung as badly as the one to Neil Robertson in the final of the Tour Championship the following year. He was 9-4 up that night and collapsed to a 10-9 defeat which was made worse by the fact his family had travelled down to Wales and were in the crowd watching on.

I think that was the one that really set him back. He’d lost from in front in the Northern Ireland Open final a few months earlier, but that match against Neil was a real sickener and clearly left its mark.

Even this season, he was in complete control against Judd Trump at the UK Championship until one lapse safety shot lost him the deciding frame and match, and then Neil again broke his heart, this time at the Masters when winning 6-5 from 5-1 down. In truth, John did very little wrong that day, but the pain on his face afterwards was clear for all to see.

And that’s never been John. In his prime, he had a touch of Stephen Hendry about him in finals and was a painfully hard man to beat. Losing in a final was a failure for John, whereas to others it was an accomplishment just to get that far. That’s the difference between the very good players and the great ones.

And that’s what John Higgins is, make no mistake. Snooker is blessed with the many fantastic players we have playing the game right now, and great ones from years gone by. John is right up there with the very best, past and present. He’d certainly be in my top five of all time, but I’ll save that one for another day.

For those of us who follow snooker closely, that is what has made John’s more recent failings so hard to take. When commentating, you always want to be objective and call the match as you see it, but I can’t deny there have times more recently when I’ve been rooting for John to get over the line, and been so disappointed for him when things haven’t gone his way.

I’m not alone with those sentiments, too. John is immensely popular on the tour. So many of the players look up to him and respect him. Of course the Scottish lads do, but to many, many others he’s a hero and a role model, and I know his win last week will have gone down well.

He’s always taken his defeats with grace, even when they’ve hurt, and I remember how when Luca Brecel beat him the final of the Scottish Open a few years back, John put his arms around Luca to congratulate him at the end of the match. He’s a great pro and one who has always conducted himself very well on and off the table.

The other reason why he is so well respected is because people know how much he cares. His post-match interview after losing to Neil in that match at the Masters was such a hard watch. I think we all felt his pain that afternoon, and saw just how much snooker still means to him, even after all he has achieved. Nobody cares more, and that makes moments like last week all the sweeter.

The tournament itself was one that opened up for him, but you must give him credit for the way he battled and held his nerve in some tense finishes. It was almost roles reversed from the way he has been losing close matches, and both Zhou Yuelong and Zac Surety will have nightmares about the final-frame deciders they lost to John.

He made his experience count, and produced some brilliant, trademark clearances under pressure. It was John of old really, and he just had too many guns and too much nous for Joe O’Connor in the final. Joe himself didn't fire like he had in some terrific performances earlier in the week, but much of that was down to the quality of John's play.

It wasn’t that long ago John briefly slipped out of the top 16 in the rankings and the inevitable talk about impending retirement reared its head again, but even through some tough times, his game has generally remained in good shape. Sometimes that confidence ebbs away at you, but the class was still there, and hopefully he can continue to play well with this big win in the bank.

And it was a big win, too. The prize money in China was terrific and really takes the pressure off his ranking for a while. It qualifies him for a few more big events coming up, too, namely the Players Series which concludes with the Players Championship and Tour Championship.

Ironically, John’s previous tournament victory came at the 2021 Players Championship when he steamrollered everyone that week, including Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final. Four years on, he’ll return full of confidence and with the belief that he might be able to produce something similar.

At the time of writing, John has just recorded a big win over Kyren Wilson at the World Grand Prix, earning him a place in his 147th ranking event quarter-final. On that evidence, he will take some stopping again.

The rankings do make for interesting reading. Despite hardly seeing Ronnie this season – and he hasn’t qualified for the Players Series – he, Mark Williams and John are still flying the flag for the Class of 92 in the top eight in the world rankings.

The 1-Year-List makes for different reading regarding Ronnie, but John and Mark are still in the top eight and have now both won tournaments this season. It’s remarkable really, when you think they will be celebrating their 50th birthdays in the next few weeks.

We talk a lot about that trio, and in many ways, John has been the odd one out more recently. Ronnie was the dominant force of last season, and Mark a regular winner, but for a short while John looked like he might be the first to crack. It doesn’t look that way now.

This week's World Grand Prix is currently warming up nicely, and this is another very big tournament at a stage of the season where the big ones seem to come thick and fast. I’m looking forward to getting back together with the ITV team as snooker returns to terrestrial television for the Players Series in the middle of the month, live on ITV, and then we’re at the end of the road again.

How quickly Sheffield comes around. It doesn’t seem like two minutes since we were there for Kyren's crowning moment last spring, and now all roads lead back to the Crucible.

This is a hugely important part of the season, with big events and big prize money on the table. There is lots of money to be made and huge opportunities for players to make their careers on the big stage.

As for the man in focus in this column, I suspect he’s still got a few more pages to write in his own story, and we know only too well how many happy memories John has made at the Crucible over the years.

On the evidence of last week, he might not be finished for a while yet.