eventual champion John Higgins 13–7 in the second round. 2011/2012 season McLeod qualified for the 2011 Australian Goldfields Open, and beat Peter Ebdon in the first round 5 frames to 3, before going out to Shaun Murphy in the second round. McLeod qualified for the 2011 UK Championship by beating Barry Hawkins 6–2. He was drawn against three-time UK winner John Higgins and led 4–2 before the scoreline became 5–5. In the deciding frame Higgins "" two balls, one when escaping and McLeod would ultimately lose the match 6–5. McLeod also reached the China Open where he played Higgins in the first round again and lost 1–5. He finished the season ranked world number 38. 2012/2013 season McLeod qualified for the Australian Goldfields Open and the China Open during the 2012–13 season. In Australia he lost 4–5 in the first round to Stephen Lee and in China he had his best run of the season, beating Hu Hao 5–1 in the wildcard round, Matthew Stevens 5–2 in the first round, before losing 3–5 to Shaun Murphy in the last 16. McLeod played in all 10 of the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events, with his best finish coming at the fifth European Tour Event, where he lost 0–4 by John Higgins in the quarter-finals. He finished 36th on the PTC Order of Merit, outside of the top 26 who qualified for the Finals. McLeod ended the season by losing 9–10 to Sam Baird in the third round of World Championship Qualifying, to be placed at number 45 in the world rankings. 2013/2014 season McLeod lost 5–3 to Mark King in the first round of the 2013 Wuxi Classic and 5–2 to Robert Milkins in the second round of the Australian Goldfields Open to start the 2013–14 season. He qualified for three other Chinese ranking events during the year, losing in the first round of the International Championship and China Open. At the World Open, McLeod came through a wildcard round match against Zhao Xintong and then narrowly beat Tom Ford 5–4, before world number one Neil Robertson knocked him out 5–1. 2014/2015 season McLeod was beaten 5–4 by Michael Holt after having been 4–2 ahead in the first round of the 2014 Wuxi Classic. He defeated Lee Walker, Andrew Pagett and Ken Doherty on his way to qualifying for the Australian Goldfields Open and lost 5–2 to Judd Trump in the