Girl embracing golf as a game (5)
I believe the answer is:
rugby
'a game' is the definition.
(rugby is a kind of game)
'girl embracing golf' is the wordplay.
'girl' becomes 'ruby' (**).
'embracing' is an insertion indicator.
'golf' becomes 'g' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'ruby' placed around 'g' is 'RUGBY'.
'as' is the link.
(Other definitions for rugby that I've seen before include "Try game?" , "Team game" , "Town in Warwickshire" , "Team sport" , "Game with oval ball" .)