The first world ranking event of the season was the inaugural Australian Goldfields Open where Ford reached the final stages by beating Gerard Greene. He then beat world number 15 Jamie Cope 5–3 before being whitewashed 0–5 by eventual winner Stuart Bingham in the last 16. He made it through to his third successive UK Championship main draw where he played former world champion Neil Robertson, but was comfortably beaten 1–6. Ford won his second PTC title at Event 11 in December by defeating Martin Gould 4–3. He finished twelfth in the Order of Merit to qualify for the 2012 Finals, where he lost to Mark Davis 1–4 in the last 24.&lt;ref name="2011/12"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; He then qualified for the wildcard round of the German Masters with a 5–0 whitewash of Anthony Hamilton and beat Irishman Philip Arnold 5–1 to reach the last 32, where he met Mark Allen. Ford held a 3–0 lead, but went on to lose the match 4–5. He qualified for the Welsh Open and beat Graeme Dott 4–2 in the opening round, before losing to Stephen Lee 1–4. Ford also reached the second round of the World Open, thanks to the withdrawal of Ronnie O'Sullivan, but exited the tournament in a final frame decider versus Mark King. He then lost to Lee again, this time in the first round of the China Open, before failing to qualify for the World Championship after being edged out 9–10 by Cao Yupeng. Ford finished the season ranked world number 26, meaning he had risen eight places during the year.