As he rightly said before his quarter-final match with Cliff Thorburn, it hasn't exactly crept up on him though. He's now 48-years-old, and you have to be 40 to compete with the seniors.
Only a 13-year gap between this event and the last seniors only competition stopped White being lumped in this bracket long ago, but even if The Whirlwind is eight years past the minimum required age, he showed he's still a class above that level.
I was lucky enough to have tickets for all four of the quarter-final matches in Bradford on Saturday. And from that snippet of play, Jimmy was by far and above the best player on show.
While the likes of Steve Davis, Nigel Bond and John Parrott showed the tactical nous that could probably match even the best player's in the game today, White was the only player who demonstrated that killer instinct.
He looked like making a frame-winning contribution every time he was presented a chance, as he swept away Thorburn with ease.
Parrott proved a much tougher test. The 1991 Crucible winner came within just one ball of whitewashing Jimmy 3-0 in their semi-final clash, but The Whirlwind hit back in the same style as his nickname suggests to take the match 3-2.
He took that confidence into the final, where he ran out an easy 4-1 winner against Steve Davis, who also played well in this competition.
White is known throughout the sport as the People's champion. While most of his opponents were former world champions, Jimmy arrived at this event for legends with the unwanted record of having lost six Crucible finals throughout his colourful career.
Even if only for seniors, at least White has finally chalked up a world title, and he was well worth this win.
He didn't arrive favourite by any stretch of the imagination either. That was reserved for the highest ranked player in the tournament Peter Ebdon, who was dumped out by Bond in Friday night's final qualifier, before going on stage to provide the entertainment singing a cover of U2's With or Without You.
Davis was another of the bookmaker's tips. He played solid enough to reach the final, but lacked that spark White provided in abundance.
While the crowd's support might have helped stir up Jimmy that little extra bit, he still came to this event as the form player from the pro tour.
With two televised appearances at the World Open and a trip to the latter stages of the PTC6 event under his belt, he's really found his feet again, and you could tell he's not ready to pull the curtain down on life at the top of the game just yet.
Some of his fellow players went through the motion in this event, just looking happy to enjoy the day. White was as ever eager to entertain and going all out for the win.
Well played Jimmy!
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