Standard mass for cardinal (9)
I believe the answer is:
paramount
'cardinal' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'standard mass' is the wordplay.
'standard' becomes 'par' (standard of play in golf).
'mass' becomes 'amount' (a mass of something is a large amount of it).
'par'+'amount'='PARAMOUNT'
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for paramount that I've seen before include "Of overriding importance" , "Supreme - Hollywood studio" , "Highest" , "Predominant" , "First" .)