Higgins played Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final and was 5–4 down after the first session, but returned to take six of the next eight frames and win his second title in a week. In the second round of the Northern Ireland Open he made the eighth 147 of his career and also scored breaks of 137 and 130 in a 4–1 victory over Sam Craigie. Higgins forced a deciding frame in the quarter-finals of the UK Championship after having trailed Selby 3–0, but lost it. He closed out 2016 by beating O'Sullivan 5–2 in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Open and then came back from 5–1 down to Judd Trump to win the semi-final 6–5. He opened the final against Marco Fu with three centuries and built a 4–1 lead, but lost eight frames in a row to be defeated 9–4. Higgins won the non-ranking Championship League by beating Ryan Day 3–0 in the final.