The 1996 Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held March 28–31 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville.

Fred Couples shot a final round 64 to win his second Players, four strokes ahead of runners-up Colin Montgomerie and Tommy Tolles, the 54-hole leader.

[7] Greg Norman, Billy Mayfair, Lee Janzen, Corey Pavin, Steve Elkington, Davis Love III, Peter Jacobsen, Jim Gallagher Jr., Vijay Singh, Mark O'Meara, David Duval, Payne Stewart, Mark Calcavecchia, Ernie Els, Tom Lehman, Jay Haas, Scott Simpson, Scott Hoch, Nick Faldo, Bob Tway, Kenny Perry, Justin Leonard, Ben Crenshaw, Woody Austin, Brad Bryant, Fred Funk, Loren Roberts, Phil Mickelson, Kirk Triplett, Nick Price, Jeff Sluman, Hal Sutton, Jim Furyk, Jeff Maggert, Duffy Waldorf, Steve Lowery, Ted Tryba, Steve Stricker, Bob Estes, John Morse, Bill Glasson, Jim McGovern, Mark McCumber, Mark Brooks, Curtis Strange, David Frost, Lennie Clements, Mike Heinen, Colin Montgomerie, Jay Don Blake, Scott Verplank, Brett Ogle, John Daly, Tom Watson, Bob Lohr, Gene Sauers, Mike Hulbert, Guy Boros, Fred Couples, John Huston, Craig Parry, Joe Ozaki, Larry Mize, Robin Freeman, Billy Andrade, Bruce Lietzke, Andrew Magee, Gil Morgan, John Adams, Brian Claar, Grant Waite, Blaine McCallister, Nolan Henke, Steve Jones, Jay Delsing, Doug Martin, Don Pooley, David Edwards, Jesper Parnevik, Michael Bradley, Brandel Chamblee, Dillard Pruitt, Robert Gamez, Joey Sindelar, Dan Forsman, Jonathan Kaye, Hale Irwin, Lee Rinker, John Cook, Scott Gump, Paul Azinger, Neal Lancaster, Jim Carter, Charlie Rymer, Tom Kite, Curt Byrum, Ken Green, Kelly Gibson, Fuzzy Zoeller, Chip Beck, Mark Wiebe, Mike Sullivan, Brian Henninger, Bobby Wadkins, Tommy Tolles, Dan Pohl, Brian Kamm, Patrick Burke, John Mahaffey, Phil Blackmar, Ed Dougherty, David Ogrin, Dave Stockton Jr., John Wilson, Rick Fehr, Joe Acosta Jr., Scott McCarron, Paul Goydos, Keith Fergus All winners of PGA Tour events awarding official money and official victory status in the preceding 12 months, concluding with the Freeport-McDermott Classic and dating from the 1995 Players Championship.

Sandy Lyle, Jeff Sluman, Ian Woosnam, Larry Nelson, Mike Reid, Tom Purtzer, Fulton Allem British Open winners since 1990.

Costantino Rocca, Masashi Ozaki, Sam Torrance, Robert Allenby, Michael Campbell, Frank Nobilo Any players, not otherwise eligible, who are among the top-10 money-winners from the 1996 Official Money List through the Freeport-McDermott Classic.