golf player vs participant

golf player and participant both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
golf player	Yes	No	No	No
participant	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, participant is a hypernym of golf player; that is, participant is a word with a broader meaning than golf player:

Other hypernyms of golf player include player.

golf player (noun)	participant (noun)
someone who plays the game of golf	someone who takes part in an activity
	a person who participates in or is skilled at some game