Norris made his World Championship debut in 2009, taking one of the automatic non-seeded spots. He defeated 13th seed Steve West 3–0 in the first round but lost 4–0 to fourth seed Scott Waites in the second round. He was defeated in the final of the Welsh Classic 5–2 by Tony O'Shea. Norris advanced through Group B at the Zuiderduin Masters and then eliminated Martin Atkins 3–1 to play in his first major semi-final where Darryl Fitton whitewashed him 4–0.