1977–1991 White lost 2–3 to Meo in the final of the 1977 Pontins Junior Championship, and defeated David Bonney 32 in the final of the
British Under-16s Championship the same year. He won the 1979
English Amateur Championship a month before his 17th birthday, becoming the youngest champion at the event. He won the London section of the tournament by defeating Danny Adds 4–1 in the final, and then secured victory in the Southern Area section, culminating with an 8–5 win over
Cliff Wilson. White then defeated Northern Section winner
Dave Martin 13–10 in the grand final. White reached the final of the Pontins Spring Open (out of 1034 entries), beating
Doug Mountjoy, Neville Suthers, John Howell and
Paul Medati before losing 3–7 to
Steve Davis, despite Davis giving White a 30-point start per frame and White having led 31. The
Billiards and Snooker Control Council decided to exclude White from the
1980 World Amateur Snooker Championship as a punishment because he appeared to have been impaired by drinking alcohol during a Home International match against
Steve Newbury. The decision was reversed the following week. White was the top seed for the championship, and won all six matches in his qualifying group. He won the final 11–2 against Ron Atkins, becoming the youngest winner of the title. White had already been accepted as a professional by the
World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) before the World Amateur Championship, to take effect after the tournament. In his debut season, he defeated
Bernie Mikkelsen and
Jim Meadowcroft in the qualifying competition for the
1981 World Championship but then lost 8–10 to Davis in the first round. Around April 1981, White changed his management to Sportsworld, set up by
Harvey Lisberg and Geoff Lomas, which paid West £10,000 for the transfer. Lisberg arranged for White's teeth to be straightened, his hair to be permed, and encouraged him to wear good suits. A photoshoot with
Patrick Lichfield was arranged to provide press pictures. White's makeover was featured on the BBC TV news and current affairs programme
Newsnight. At the start of the
1981–82 snooker season, White won his first professional title, the non-ranking
Scottish Masters, defeating both
Ray Reardon and Davis in matches that went to a . In the final he beat
Cliff Thorburn 9–4. White trailed 0–3 and 1–4 but then won eight frames in a row to win the title and the £8,000 first prize. Later in the year he also won the invitational
Northern Ireland Classic, defeating Davis 119, but Davis whitewashed him 0–9 in their semi-final at the
1981 UK Championship. His performances led to him being given an invitation to the
1982 Masters, where he lost 45 to
Eddie Charlton in the first round. At the
1982 World Snooker Championship, White eliminated world number one Thorburn, then
Perrie Mans and
Kirk Stevens, to reach the semi-finals. He led Alex Higgins 15–14 in their semi-final. In the penultimate , White was 59 points ahead, but after missing a red with the rest, he could only watch as Higgins compiled a frame-winning 69 break. Higgins won the deciding frame that followed to reach the final. Reflecting on the match many years later, White said: "facing him [Alex Higgins] at the
Crucible in
Sheffield is what I had dreamt about from when I was 10 years old." The
1982–83 snooker season was the first in which two tournaments outside the
World Snooker Championship counted towards the ranking list. White reached the final of the second of these, the
1982 Professional Players Tournament, where he was defeated 8–10 by Reardon. He also lost to Reardon in the final of the non-ranking
1983 International Masters. At the
1983 World Championship, he suffered a first-round exit to Meo, 8–10. victory was against
Terry Griffiths (pictured in 1991) at the
1984 Masters In 1984, White won his first
Triple Crown event at the
Masters, although the concept of the triple crown (winning the World Championship, UK Championship and Masters) did not exist in snooker at the time. He beat Charlton, Reardon and Kirk Stevens to reach the final where he triumphed over
Terry Griffiths 9–5. He followed this success by reaching his first
World Championship final. Trailing Davis 4–12 after the first two sessions, White responded by reducing the deficit to 15–16. White did, however, become a World Doubles Champion later that year when he and Alex Higgins defeated
Willie Thorne and Thorburn 10–2 in the final of the
World Doubles Championship. In February 1985, White successfully won a court case against Lisberg, who had sought to prevent him changing management to Golden Leisure. After winning the
1985 Irish Masters with a 9–5 victory against Alex Higgins, He reached the quarter-finals at the
1985 World Championship in April, but exited the tournament with a 10–13 loss to
Tony Knowles. White took a 7–0 lead against Thorburn in the
1985 Matchroom Trophy final, but was beaten 10–12. White had led by 74 points to nil in the eighth frame, but he conceded three penalties from fouls three times, including two leaving , and Thorburn eventually won that frame on the black ball, the first time that a frame in professional snooker had been won after such a deficit. He then defeated Thorburn in a final-frame decider to win his first ranking title, the
Classic. Having won the first four frames and leading 4–3 after the first , White forfeited a frame for arriving late at the second session, and finished that session one frame behind at 7–8. In the deciding frame of the third session, White ; he Thorburn on the final and after Thorburn failed to hit the pink, White potted the pink and black for victory. He played future rival
Stephen Hendry for the first time professionally at the
1986 Scottish Masters, with White winning their clash 5–1. Later in the year, he overcame veteran
Rex Williams 10–6 to win his first
Grand Prix title. He lost in the deciding frame to Davis, 12–13, at the
1987 Classic. White's third ranking event win came at the
1987 British Open, where he lifted the trophy after a 13–9 victory over Neal Foulds. This helped him to end the
1986–87 season as world number two, behind Davis who defeated him 11–16 in the semi-finals of the
1987 World Championship. Later in 1987, White and Davis contested the
UK Championship final which Davis won 16–14 after they had been level at 7–7 and 12–12. He was part of the England team that won the
1988 Snooker World Cup. Playing alongside Davis and Foulds, the trio secured a 9–7 victory over Australia in the final. In 1988, he defeated
John Campbell, Hendry and Knowles to reach his fourth
World Championship semi-final. He played Griffiths and, trailing 11–13, lost a tied frame on a re-spotted black. Griffiths went on win the match 16–11 win and reach the final. White played
John Virgo in the second round of the
1989 World Championship and won 13–12. The win was a short-lived consolation as he was beaten 7–13 by eventual finalist
John Parrott in the quarter-finals. White avenged this defeat later in the year by beating Parrott 18–9 in the final of the invitational
World Matchplay. In 1990, White recorded a 16–14 victory over Davis in the semi-finals of the
1990 World Championship. It was Davis's first defeat in the event in four years. White subsequently lost his second World Championship final 12–18 to Hendry. White then beat Hendry 18–9 to retain his
World Matchplay title later in the year and that win was followed by a 10–4 victory over Hendry (after leading 9–0) in the final of the
1991 Classic. White continued his run of success by beating
Tony Drago 10–6 in the final of the
1991 World Masters for his third successive tournament win. White played Parrott in the final of the
1991 World Championship and was whitewashed in the first session 0–7. White managed to close the gap to 7–11, but Parrott was able to seal an 18–11 victory. White was defeated by Parrott again, 13–16 in the final of the
1991 UK Championship. It was White's fifth defeat in five UK and World Championship finals. He won another ranking title, the
European Open, shortly after, clinching victory with a 93 win over
Mark Johnston-Allen. White was drawn against Drago in the first round of the
1992 World Championship. After opening up an 8–4 lead, White made history in the 13th frame by becoming only the second player to make a maximum break in the World Championship. He won £100,000 in prize money for this feat. Wins over
Alain Robidoux,
Jim Wych and
Alan McManus then followed. He played Hendry in the final and won each of the first two sessions to open up a 10–6 lead, which he extended to 14–8. Hendry fought back and won ten consecutive frames to lift the trophy. Reflecting back on the game in 2025, White said: "I was 14–8 up against Hendry in the World Championship final. It went 14–10. I was completely gone, I was done. Pockets were moving all over the place. Your brain just gets fuzzled." In the early part of the
1992–93 season, White defeated
Ken Doherty 10–9 to claim his second
Grand Prix title and followed this with victory in the
1992 UK Championship. He defeated Wattana in the quarter-finals and McManus in the semi-finals to set up a clash with Parrott in the final, whom he overcame to secure a 16–9 win. White has stated that this was among the best matches he has ever played. At the
1993 World Championship, he overcame
Joe Swail, Doug Mountjoy and
Dennis Taylor to reach the semi-finals. During his semi-final match against Wattana, White won twelve consecutive frames en route to a 16–9 victory. In the final he lost heavily to Hendry, as White was beaten 5–18 with a session to spare. White then beat McManus 107 to win the
European League final.
(pictured in 2011) defeated White in four
World Snooker Championship finals At the
1994 World Championship, he defeated
Darren Morgan in the semi-finals 168 to reach the final for a fifth successive year. For the fourth time in five years, White's opponent in the final was Hendry, and the defending champion opened up a 1–5 lead. White recovered well to lead 13–12 and made a break of 75 to take the match into a decider. In the final frame, White was on a break of 29 and leading by 37 points to 24 when he missed a black off its spot. Hendry made a break of 58 to win the title. After the match, White said of Hendry: "He's beginning to annoy me." During the
1994–95 season, White was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He recovered after receiving treatment. At the
1995 World Championship, he was involved in a controversial first-round match against
Peter Francisco. From 2–2, White was able to pull away and win convincingly by 10 frames to 2. Shortly afterwards, it emerged that large sums of money had been placed on White to win the match by the exact scoreline. The ensuing investigation found Francisco guilty of misconduct and banned him for five years. However no evidence was found against White, and he was cleared of any wrongdoing. He overcame
David Roe and Parrott to reach his tenth World Championship semi-final, in which the defending champion Hendry made a 147 break and White lost 12–16. Along with Davis and Alex Higgins, White was a member of Europe's victorious
Mosconi Cup pool team of
1995, and won the deciding match against
Lou Butera. He was beaten 12–13 in a second-round encounter with
Peter Ebdon in the
1996 World Championship. White was world ranked 13 in the
1996–97 season. He lost his first eleven matches of the season and a first-round defeat at the
1997 World Championship against
Anthony Hamilton (9–10, after leading 8–4) saw him drop out of the top 16 in the world rankings for the first time in 15 years. It also marked just the third time since his debut in 1981 that White had been knocked out of the first round of the competition. In the
1997–98 season, White advanced to the semi-finals of the
1997 Grand Prix (where he was defeated 2–6 by
Dominic Dale) and the quarter-finals at the
1998 World Championship. After qualifying to play Hendry in the first round at the Crucible, White opened with a century break and built up a 7–0 lead. White lost the next three frames, before sealing a 10–4 success. After the match, White said: "I've laid a few ghosts to rest tonight." He followed this with a 13–3 win over Morgan which included a break of 144. In his quarter-final against
Ronnie O'Sullivan, however, White lost the first session 1–7, and although he fought back to 6–9, White succumbed to a 7–13 exit. He was knocked out of the first round of the
1999 World Championship by McManus 7–10. After regaining his top 16 ranking in the
1999–2000 season, White reached the semi-finals of the
Welsh Open, where he lost 5–6 to
Stephen Lee. He then defeated
Marco Fu and
John Higgins to reach the quarter-finals of the
Masters, and he followed this up with a run to the quarter-finals of the
2000 World Snooker Championship. On both occasions, however, he was beaten by
Matthew Stevens. In the
following season, he reached the final of the
2000 British Open (losing 6–9 to Ebdon) and the semi-finals of the
2000 Grand Prix (losing 2–6 to
Mark Williams) in the early part of the campaign. White defeated O'Sullivan 6–2 in the
2001 Masters, but he failed to qualify for the
2001 World Championship after a defeat to
Michael Judge. In the invitational
2002 Masters, White beat Matthew Stevens 6–1 and came back from 2–5 behind to defeat O'Sullivan 6–5 in the quarter-finals. He then lost his semi-final with Mark Williams 5–6. White lost 3–13 in his second round match with Matthew Stevens at the
2002 World Championship and issued an immediate apology after hitting the cue ball off the table in frustration when trailing 2–5. The result left him provisionally ranked world number ten.
2003–2009 At the invitational
2003 Masters, White secured a first round win against Ebdon, coming back from 1–5 down to win 6–5. He could not progress any further as he exited the tournament at the quarter-final stage with a 4–6 loss to Hendry. In the first round of the
2003 World Championship, White recorded just his second match win in a ranking event of the
2002–03 season with a 10–6 win over Wattana, but was then defeated 11–13 by Lee in his next match. White retained his place in the top 16. In the
2003–04 season, White showed some return to form. After reaching the semi-finals of the
2003 UK Championship in November (where he lost 7–9 to Matthew Stevens), White defeated
Neil Robertson, Hendry and Ebdon to reach the semi-finals of the
2004 Masters – where he lost against O'Sullivan 4–6. White followed this up with further victories over Hendry and Robertson en route to the final of the
European Open in
Malta, but was beaten 3–9 by
Stephen Maguire. His tenth ranking event title came in April 2004, when White defeated
Shaun Murphy, Parrott,
Ian McCulloch, Ebdon and
Paul Hunter to win the
Players Championship in
Glasgow. This sealed his first ranking title since 1992 and pushed White back into the top 10 of the world rankings. His season concluded in the first round of the
2004 World Championship, where he was knocked out of the tournament by qualifier
Barry Pinches 810. White was eleventh in the world rankings for the
2004–05 season. Before the invitational
2005 Masters, White temporarily changed his name by deed poll to James Brown, due to a sponsorship deal with
HP Sauce. He trailed Matthew Stevens 2–5 in their first-round encounter but pulled back to 4–5 after needing two snookers in the ninth frame. He completed the comeback by winning the two remaining frames to clinch a 6–5 victory and then edged past Williams by the same score in the quarter-finals. His run in the tournament ended with a 1–6 loss to O'Sullivan in the semi-finals. White played Matthew Stevens again at the
2005 World Championship but was unable to repeat his comeback at the Masters as he lost heavily in their second-round contest 5–13. White lost in the first round of the
2006 World Championship to
David Gray 5–10. He fell out of the top 32 at the end of the
2005–06 season, having been ranked eighth one year earlier. In the
2006–07 season, he reached the final of the
2006 Premier League with wins against Hendry and
Ding Junhui, but he was then whitewashed 0–7 by O'Sullivan. He failed to qualify for the
2007 World Championship after losing 410 to
Jamie Burnett, resulting in him missing the main event for just the second time in 27 years. White said he was "devastated" by the defeat. White was ranked 60th in the
2007–08 season, and he exited in qualifying for the
2008 World Championship with a 3–10 defeat by
Mark King. This result contributed to his drop to number 75 in the provisional world rankings. In the
2008–09 season, White suffered several first-round defeats, including at the
Northern Ireland Trophy, the
Shanghai Masters, and the
Welsh Open. He exited qualifying for the
2009 World Championship with an 8–10 loss against
Andy Hicks.
2009–2016 At the start of the
2009–10 season, White reached the final of the
Champion of Champions Challenge in
Killarney, where he lost 1–5 to Murphy. He then won the
Sangsom 6-red World Grand Prix in
Bangkok, Thailand, putting an end to his five-year title drought. On his way to the final he defeated Murphy,
Ricky Walden, Mark King, and Mark Williams, eventually beating
Barry Hawkins in the final 8–6. One month later, in the
Paul Hunter Classic, White again reached the final but this time he lost to Murphy 0–4. In October, he reached the final of the invitational
World Series of Snooker in
Prague, his fourth final of the season. White claimed his second title of the season by defeating
Graeme Dott 5–3. In the
2010 Masters, White played King in the wild card round, but lost the match 2–6. Prior to the
2010 World Championship, White failed to qualify for both the
Welsh Open and
China Open. Due to this, and skipping the
UK Championship for
''I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'', he came close to losing his tour card for the following season, but saved it with a win over
Mark Boyle during an ultimately unsuccessful bid to qualify for the World Championship. White started the
2010–11 season by entering the
Players Tour Championship, his best performance coming in the
first European event and at the
sixth event in Sheffield, where he reached the quarter-finals each time. After twelve out of twelve events, White was ranked 34th in the Order of Merit. He won the
2010 World Seniors Championship, defeating Thorburn and Parrott to reach the final where he triumphed over Steve Davis 4–1 to secure his first world seniors title. At the
2010 UK Championship in December, White lost 8–9 to Hendry in the first round, after he had come through three qualifying rounds. It was only the fifth time in 24 years that White and Hendry had taken each other to the final frame. White lost his first qualifying match for the
2011 World Championship 9–10 against Jimmy Robertson. White began the
2011–12 season ranked
number 55. At a Legends Tour event in June 2011, White compiled a maximum break, unusually potting the first ball off the , meaning his opponent never played a shot in the frame. White was unable to defend his
World Seniors Championship title, as he lost in the semi-finals 0–2 against eventual champion Morgan. White also failed to qualify for the
2011 UK Championship, losing 5–6 against
Jamie Jones. After the
FFB Snooker Open, he was ranked number 47. At the
2013 World Seniors Championship, White lost to Hendry in the quarter-final. White finished the
2013–14 season ranked world number 61, almost losing his place on the professional World Snooker circuit. His final game of the season was a 4–10 defeat to
Ian Burns in qualifying for the
2014 World Championship. In November 2014, while speaking about the World Championship, White said: "I'm not finished yet [...] I still have very strong belief I can win it." Both the
2014–15 and
2015–16 seasons ended in disappointment when White lost in qualifying for the World Championship, to
Matthew Selt and
Gerard Greene respectively.
2016–present White made it to the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time in over a decade at the
2016 Paul Hunter Classic in Germany, but he exited the tournament with a 2–4 defeat against Dale. He finished the
2016–17 season outside the top 64 and lost his tour card after 37 years as a professional, but the
World Snooker Tour decided to give White a two-year invitational tour card. White won his first professional title in seven years after winning the inaugural
2017 UK Seniors Championship, part of the World Seniors Tour. In the competition, he defeated qualifier Jonathan Bagley to set up a final with Doherty which he won 4–2. White later played in the qualifiers for the
2018 World Snooker Championship, losing to
Joe Perry 5–10. White won the
World Seniors Championship in August 2019 with a 5–3 victory over Morgan in the final at the Crucible. This meant he qualified for the
2019 Champion of Champions, where despite taking a three frame lead, he narrowly lost 3–4 to O'Sullivan in the first round. In the 2020 World Seniors Championship, White fought back from four frames behind to beat Doherty 5–4 and retain his title. After a 3–6 defeat to long-time rival Hendry during an attempt to qualify for the
2021 World Championship, White was given a new two-year invitational tour card in recognition of "his outstanding contribution to the sport". In November 2022, White, aged 60, reached the televised stages of the
2022 UK Championship, becoming the oldest player to reach the last 32 since Eddie Charlton in 1993. He lost his match to
Ryan Day 2–6. Afterwards, White said of the occasion: "That's why I still play snooker, for their support on nights like this...It was magical, mind blowing, I will never forget it." At the
2023 German Masters in February, White became the first player aged over 60 to reach the last 16 of a ranking event since Charlton in 1992. He then reached the last 16 of the
WST Classic in March, beating
Judd Trump 4–2 along the way. Despite this upturn in form, White suffered more disappointment in qualifying for the
2023 World Championship, exiting 4–10 to
Martin O'Donnell. His performances over the season earned him a new two-year tour card. White won a record fourth World Senior's Championship in May 2023. After defeating Drago in the semi-final, he beat
Alfie Burden 5–3 in the final to secure the title. In April 2025, White failed to qualify for the World Championship for the 19th consecutive year after he suffered a 5–10 loss to
Ashley Carty in qualifying. His best result of the
2024–25 season was a run to the last 32 of the
Northern Ireland Open. His ranking dropped to 93, which meant he was relegated from the World Snooker Tour. White was then awarded with an invitational tour card for the next two seasons by the sport's governing body. In December 2025, he finished runner-up to Joe Perry at the
British Seniors Open after suffering a 5–7 defeat in the final. ==Legacy==