I play a lot of tournaments throughout my state, and I have noticed that the top Intermediates can, and often do beat some of the Adv. Open. With ratings going up as high as they are for Int., it's no wonder. IMHO Intermediate should be 910 Max. Any higher should play Open. But a lot of the leaders in this area are "locals" to that course/area. It used to be <years back> that Adv. Open was THE largest field, now it is Intermediate, in fact the last tournament at my home course there were just 3 Adv. Open, with more in Grandmaster than open. From what I notice, the top Int. players have a good game, just not a complete game. They may have distance, and/or good putting, but they lack in accuracy, or upshots, or having wisdom in getting out of a bad lie. Most of them do move on up after getting confidence, or after a few wins. My advice to players who play their first tournaments, play the lowest division offered, get the "feel" of how it is played, if you win your first, fine, move up the next time. If you don't, look how your score compares to the other divisions, and you know where you stand. Also, you can see what areas you lack when playing against others, were they putting better, were they driving more accurate....so on, and you can practice that aspect of your game.
