Walsh was 65th on the Order of Merit after the 2016 World Championship, just outside the top 64 who remain on tour and so entered Q School. Despite losing in the final round to Vincent Kamphuis on the last day, Walsh had done more than enough to win his place back right away as he topped the Q School Order of Merit. At the 10th Players Championship in July, Walsh reached his first quarter-final in over two years, but lost 6–1 to Andrew Gilding. This helped him qualify for the Finals and, in what was his PDC major event since February 2014, he was edged out 6–5 by Josh Payne in the opening round.