At the Players Championship Finals in December 2011, Painter beat Colin Osborne, Gary Anderson, Mervyn King, and Scott Rand to reach his first major final since the World Championship in 2004. The victory against Rand saw him recover from 9–6 down in the best-of-19 leg match and survive two match darts in the seventeenth leg. Painter then beat Mark Webster 13–9 in the final to win his first televised major tournament. This victory returned him to the top 10 in the PDC Order of Merit for the first time since 2006. At the 2012 PDC World Championship, Painter defeated Arron Monk and Mark Walsh before losing once again to John Part by four sets to two.