make the cut

今はJohn Grishamの短編小説集Ford Countyの中のQuiet Havenを読んでいます。
We ramble about this and that, more gossip about people I'll never meet. I toy with the drink, but I'm afraid not to consume most of it. She's questioned my manhood on several occasions when I tried to slip by without fully enjoying the bourbon.
"Say, Miss Ruby, did you ever know a man by the name of Lyle Spurlock?" I ask during a lull.
It takes quite a while for her to recall all the men she's known, but Lyle eventually does not make the cut. "Afraid not, dear. Why?"
学歴を詐称して（まともな大学を卒業しているのに、高卒と偽り）老人ホームで働き始める若い男の話です。
何だか先ごろ日本の身障者の介護施設で起きた事件を連想しました。
さて、上の引用箇所に出てきた慣用句 "make the cut" の意味を調べます。
・Wiktionary: To succeed at something or meet a requirement; to be chosen out of a field of candidates or possibilities. Out of a pool of twenty applicants, only 3 made the cut.
Etymology: From the sport of golf, in which players are said to make the cut when they match or exceed a certain score, thus avoiding elimination during the final two rounds of a four-round tournament.
ゴルフから来た表現ですか。