but was eliminated in the first round of both. He was knocked out in the last 64 of every European Tour to finish 54th on the Order of Merit and 58th in the world rankings. 2015–2016 Hamilton began the 2015/2016 season at risk of losing his tour place if his performances were not good enough; despite this, the results proved hard to come by during the first half of the season, with the last 32 appearance at the minor-ranking Event 5 of the European Tour being his best result. Hamilton's form improved slightly after the New Year. In the first round of the Welsh Open he eliminated the reigning world champion Stuart Bingham 4–1. having produced a break of 72 from 0–71 down to take the final frame. He defeated Allan Taylor 4–2, before losing 4–3 to Ben Woollaston in the third round. In the 2016 China Open qualifiers, Hamilton was involved in a high-quality match with Kyren Wilson, in which the two players set a record of six consecutive century breaks between them; this included two from Hamilton, but he was beaten 5–3. Hamilton finished his season by reaching the final qualifying round for the World Championship, but was edged out 10–9 by Robbie Williams for the Crucible place. Hamilton finished the year 71st in the world rankings and therefore outside of the top 64 for the first time since 1992; however, thanks to being placed 64th on the European Order of Merit (one of the eight highest-placed players not in the world top 64), he earned a fresh two-year tour card. 2016–2017: Resurgence and first ranking title Hamilton reached the quarter-finals of the English Open by beating Jak Jones 4–3, but lost 5–2 to Liang Wenbo. He also got to the quarter-finals of the next Home Nations event, the Northern Ireland Open and he defeated local favourite Mark Allen 5–2 to make his first semi-final since the 2009 Welsh Open. After the match, Hamilton said "a month ago I was skint and now I'm in the semi-finals." In the semi-final he came from 4–2 and 5–3 down against Barry Hawkins to force a deciding frame in which he had a good chance to win the match, but he feathered the cue ball and Hawkins secured it with a 59 break. Hamilton came through a very tough draw at the German Masters as he beat Mark Williams 5–3, Mark