At the Welsh Open, O'Sullivan defeated Ricky Walden 4–1 in the last 16, John Higgins 5–1 in the quarter-finals, and Barry Hawkins 6–2 in the semi-finals. He defeated Ding Junhui 9–3 in the final to win his third Welsh Open title, and the 26th ranking title of his career. In the last frame of the final, he compiled a record 12th maximum break in professional competition, breaking the previous record of 11 maximum breaks that he had held jointly with Stephen Hendry. During the season O'Sullivan competed at the Players Tour Championship, and finished second on the European Tour Order of Merit, to qualify for the Players Championship Grand Final. There he defeated Scott Donaldson 4–0 in the last 32, but lost 3–4 against Yu Delu in the last 16, despite making a 140, the highest break of the tournament.