golfer vs participant

golfer and participant both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
golfer	Yes	No	No	No
participant	Yes	No	No	No

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

Other hypernyms of golfer include player.

golfer (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