In November 2012, Bowles won six games to reach the final of the PDC World Championship qualifier, where he lost 1–5 to Stuart Kellett. However, his run to the final earned him a spot in the preliminary round in what was his first appearance at the World Championship. He beat Spain's Carlos Rodríguez by four legs to two in the preliminary round and then came from 1–2 down in sets against Jamie Caven to win 3–2. Bowles cited a 121 checkout to win the fourth set as the key to winning the match. He played fourth seed Gary Anderson in the second round and lost 3–4 in sets in an extremely close match. Bowles missed one dart at double 20 in three separate legs to reach the last 16. After the tournament Bowles was ranked world number 64. He reached his first PDC semi-final in the sixth 2013 UK Open Qualifier in April, having defeated the likes of Mervyn King (with an average of 108) and Brendan Dolan, but lost 3–6 to Kim Huybrechts. This result helped him finish 22nd on the UK Open Order of Merit to enter the competition at the third round stage, where he beat Paul Nicholson 9–5. He played Terry Temple in the next round and lost 7–9. He reached the last 16 once during the rest of the year, at the seventh Players Championship, in a run that included a 6–0 whitewash over Andy Hamilton before he lost 6–4 to Peter Wright. Bowles missed out on reaching the 2014 World Championship by just £650 on the ProTour Order of Merit.