Professional Career
Parrott turned professional in 1983 and he made his televised debut as a professional during the 1984 Classic in which he played Alex Higgins in the last 16 of the competition in front of a packed house at Warrington near his home town of Liverpool. He then caused a stir when he won the match 5–2. He then beat Tony Knowles in the next round before losing to Steve Davis in the semi-finals. By then, bookmakers had him tipped to be the World Snooker Champion within five years (it took him seven years). He took his first ranking title in the 1989 European Open, and defended his title in 1990.
Parrott also boasts 14 consecutive seasons in the top 16 of the snooker world rankings, eleven of them in the top 6.
From 1984–2004 Parrott was ever-present at the World Championship, reaching at least the last 16 every year from 1984–1995, but he failed to qualify in 2005. Since his 1991 victory he has never again reached the semi-finals, but lost in the quarter-finals seven times between 1992 and 1999.
Overall, Parrott has won a total of nine world ranking events, which is seventh on the all-time list behind Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins, Mark Williams and Jimmy White. Also, his 1991 triumphs in the World Championship and UK Championship make him one of only five players to win both of snooker's two most prominent ranking titles in the same year.
Parrott has come through the qualifying event for the World Championship a record 10 times. In 2007 he reached the last 16 of the World Championship for the first time in seven years, after victories over James Leadbetter, David Gray and Steve Davis (10–9, having led 6–1 and 9–6).
A record ten of Parrott's World Championship matches have gone to a final-frame decider – he has won 7 of these. Also, John Parrott is the only player to have recorded a "whitewash" in the World Championship final stages – he beat Eddie Charlton 10–0 in the first round in 1992.
Because of Hendry's dominance, Parrott was the runner-up at the Masters on three occasions within a four-year span, and never won the title.
On 4 August 2009 at the qualifiers for the 2009 Shanghai Masters he lost 0–5 against Michael White.
Following his 6–10 defeat to young Chinese Zhang Anda in the 2010 World Championship Qualifiers, Parrott finished outside the top 64 in the end of season rankings and was not assured a place on the main tour for the 2010/2011 season. Later Parrott announced he was to retire from the professional game. He told the Daily Mail:
If I'm off the tour, it’s fairly certain that I'll retire. I certainly won't be playing any lower down. If I lose my card, that's me gone. I still have the utmost respect for the game. I've just lost in the World Championship and I'm not going to spit the dummy out. But I don't enjoy the hours of practice any more.Parrott did however participate in the preliminary qualifying rounds of the 2012 World Snooker Championship, losing 0–5 to Patrick Wallace in Round 1.
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