Mark Williams
Alex Higgins
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Mark Williams leads 4 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Mark Williams at #8 and Alex Higgins at #11.
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The case for Mark Williams
The purest long potter of the modern game and the owner of its most remarkable second act. Williams won world titles in 2000 and 2003, disappeared from contention for well over a decade, then won again in 2018 at the age of 43 — the longest gap between first and last world title in the sport's history, and a result he had considered so unlikely that he had promised to attend the winner's press conference naked, and did. He has more than 25 ranking titles, two UK Championships (1999, 2002), two Masters (1998, 2003), seven Triple Crown titles and over 600 career centuries. In 2025, at 50, he reached the world final again, becoming the oldest Crucible finalist before losing 18-12 to Zhao Xintong. Left-handed, with an unusually relaxed technique and the best cut-back potting of his generation, he is the third member of the Class of 1992 alongside O'Sullivan and Higgins.
The case for Alex Higgins
The player whose record understates his importance more than anyone's. Higgins won the world title in 1972 at 22, then the youngest champion, having qualified from the amateur ranks in his first professional season, and won it again a decade later in 1982, when he called his wife and daughter to the table in tears — the most replayed image in the sport. He reached four world finals, won the UK Championship in 1983 and the Masters in 1978 and 1981, giving him five Triple Crown titles. The 69 break he made against Jimmy White from a hopeless position in the 1982 semi-final is still cited as the finest clearance under pressure ever played. Nicknamed Hurricane for his speed, he brought crowds and controversy in equal measure and made snooker a spectacle rather than a pastime, at enormous personal cost. He died in 2010 at 61.