Hi Henrik,
Well I am not sure what tournament you mean, but I did look at the Kiawah Monthly. Yes it is a Master leading, he entered as a tour pro, and therefore will finish that tournament at the tier he started it as.
That said this guy is a blatant sandbagger, shoots 58 for 18 then next round a 90 for nine holes. As Courteney says yes he will get tiered up eventually. No friends and was a dormant account for a while, interesting to say the least.
For the OP,sadly if you want to compete it does take decent equipment, which equals dollars. I know earning free credits in some places just is a non event (like here) so you have to accept players with better equipment will always have the edge. On top of that at your level you play against many players who are already legends/TL and create another account to cream the junior ranks.
JUst play for fun and challenge yourself, and don't worry what the others are doing.