Nigel Bond  Nigel Bond (born 15 November 1965) is an English professional snooker player. Bond has competed on the main tour since 1989, and was ranked within the world's top 16 players between 1992 and 1999, peaking at 5th for the 1996–97 season. He reached the final of the World Championship in 1995, where he lost 9–18 to Stephen Hendry, and won the 1996 British Open, defeating John Higgins 9–8. Having reached the final of three other ranking tournaments, Bond won the 2011 Snooker Shoot-Out and, in 2012, defeated Tony Chappel to win the World Seniors Championship. He retained his place in the top 64 until 2015. He was born in Darley Dale, Derbyshire. After a strong amateur career, Bond turned professional for the 1989–1990 season. He reached his first ranking semi-final in his first season, and his first final in his second season, but his career peaked in the mid-1990s. In the 1994 World Championships, Bond pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in the event's history, rallying from 9–2 to defeat Cliff Thorburn 10–9 in what would be Thorburn's final appearance at the Crucible. A year later, Bond reached the final after beating Stephen Lee, Alan McManus, Gary Wilkinson and Andy Hicks, but lost to Stephen Hendry 18–9. This was his only semi-final run of the season. As a consequence of reaching the final, he climbed to number 5 in the world rankings for 1996/97, and in that same season he acquired his only ranking tournament victory (after three previous losing finals), the British Open, beating John Higgins 9–8 after needing a snooker in the final frame, winning the World Snooker Association Performance of the Year award for this achievement, although he has failed to maintain this level of performance. He reached at least the quarter finals at the Crucible Theatre every year from 1993 to 1996, losing to Stephen Hendry every time, which added extra spice to their first round match in 2006. After leading comfortably throughout the match Bond was pegged back to 7–7, and the match went to a final frame. With only the black remaining, and 7 points up, Bond clipped it into the left corner pocket, only for the cue ball to go in the right middle pocket, resulting in a respotted black (the first one ever to decide the final frame of a World Championship match), which Bond potted to take frame and match.