With the whist cancelled, play golf (5,3)

'golf' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to competing as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?

'with the whist cancelled play' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'cancelled' could be 'off' (similar in meaning) and 'off' is present in the answer.
'play' could be 'drive' (drive is a kind of play) and 'drive' is found within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?