Highfield advanced to the final qualifying round for the Shanghai Masters by beating Michael Wild 5–0, Robin Hull 5–2 and Ken Doherty 5–0, but he lost 5–2 to Martin Gould. However, he could only pick up one match win between August until the Gdynia Open in February 2016. There, Highfield defeated Anthony McGill 4–2, Stuart Carrington 4–0 and Robin Hull 4–3 (on the final black after being 3–0 down).&lt;ref name="2015/16"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; He lost in the last 16 4–1 to Gould, but by finishing 65th on the Order of Merit he earned the final two-year tour card on offer to players outside of the top 64 in the world rankings. 10–2 and 10–8 victories over Luke Simmonds and Luca Brecel respectively saw Highfield stand one match away from qualifying for the World Championship. He was 4–0 down to Sam Baird but recovered to be just 5–4 behind and would go on to narrowly lose 10–9.