Gould's season began at the Australian Goldfields Open, where he beat Marco Fu 5–4, Michael Holt 5–3 and Matthew Selt 5–1. He then eased past Stephen Maguire 6–1 in the semi-finals to play in the second ranking event final of his career, in which he made two centuries and came back from 5–7 down to level John Higgins at 8–8. Gould had the first chance in the deciding frame, but could only score eight points as an 89 break from Higgins denied him the title. Gould qualified for the Shanghai Masters by beating Liam Highfield 5–2 in the final round of qualifying, and beat Barry Hawkins 5–1 in the last 32, before getting revenge on John Higgins for the defeat in Australia by beating him 5–3. He crashed out to Stuart Bingham 4–5 in the quarter-finals despite leading 4–2. Gould would also suffer disappointment at the UK Championship as he let a 5–1 lead slip against underdog David Grace in the quarter-finals, losing 5–6 after having several chances to close out the victory.