Class Of '92 (snooker)

The Class of '92 is a group of three professional snooker players—Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins, and Mark Williams—who all turned professional during the 1992–93 snooker season and have become known for their collective dominance of the sport as well as their longevity as top-ranked players, which O'Sullivan has compared to that of the Big Three (Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal) in men's singles tennis. All three players were born in 1975, Williams on 21 March, Higgins on 18 May, and O'Sullivan on 5 December. The trio has won a combined 96 ranking titles, with O'Sullivan having won 40, Higgins 31, and Williams 25. All three players have won each Triple Crown event multiple times, for a combined total of 38 Triple Crown titles. At the end of the 2021–22 snooker season, after 30 seasons as professionals, all three players were ranked within the top eight in the world.

At least one member of the Class of '92 featured in 18 of the 25 World Snooker Championship finals contested between 1998 and 2022. The three players have won a combined 14 world titles, three by Williams, in 2000, 2003, and 2018; four by Higgins, in 1998, 2007, 2009, and 2011; and a record-equalling seven by O'Sullivan, in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020, and 2022. As of the 2023 World Championship, they have made a combined total of 85 appearances at the event's main stage at the Crucible, with O'Sullivan having featured a record 31 times, Higgins 29 times, and Williams 25 times. All three players have reached the semi-finals of the World Championship on three occasions: in 1998 (with Ken Doherty), in 1999 (with Stephen Hendry), and in 2022 (with Judd Trump).

The Class of '92 has collectively compiled over 2,800 century breaks in professional competition, including 30 officially recognised maximum breaks, of which O'Sullivan has made 15, Higgins 12, and Williams three. From the time Higgins first became world number one in May 1998 until the end of the 2022–23 snooker season, the Class of '92 players held the top ranking spot for a cumulative 4,963 out of a total 9,128 days. They continue to win events, and have set longevity records in the sport. At the 2022 World Championship, O'Sullivan became the oldest world champion in snooker history, aged 46 years and 148 days. At the 2022 English Open, aged 47 years and 270 days, Williams became the oldest player to make a maximum break in professional competition; at the 2023 British Open, aged 48 years and 194 days, he became the second-oldest player to win a ranking event, after Ray Reardon. By the end of the 2022–23 season, Higgins had spent a record 28 consecutive seasons ranked within the world's top 16.

They have also won eight of the 69 minor-ranking tournaments (three each for O'Sullivan and Higgins, and two for Williams), and (other than the Masters) 53 non-ranking tournaments (29 for O'Sullivan, 19 for Higgins, and five for Williams).

Triple Crown and ranking events

The three players have won a total of 96 ranking events to date, O'Sullivan having won 40, Higgins 31, and Williams 25. They have also achieved 38 Triple Crown wins between them, O'Sullivan having won 22, Higgins nine, and Williams seven.

Triple Crown

Ranking events

Time as World Number 1

See also

*Triple Crown (snooker)
*List of snooker players by number of ranking titles
*List of world number one snooker players

Notes

References

External links

*
Ronnie O'Sullivan
at snooker.org
*
John Higgins
at snooker.org
*
Mark Williams
at snooker.org

{{Snooker world number ones, state=collapsed

snooker players
Masters (snooker) champions
UK champions (snooker)
World champions in snooker
Winners of the professional snooker world championship