I'm pretty much in agreement with the other posts. I really can't tell exactly what kind of tournament he was in and the current conditions of the tournament. That means a lot in order to answer the question. Sounds like it was a regular tournament and 1st place also gets an entry into the main event...

If that's the case, then playing conservative just to make it in the money is not an approach that I would agree with. Especially when you're playing with a bunch of pros who will sense your weakness and go after you cause they know you are playing just to keep alive. They will start to run over you, raising your blinds and re-raising you out of pots. When you get close to the stage where you're not in the money yet but close... there are players who will "shutdown" to make it into the money. They may come back to life once they are in the money or may continue to play tight to move up the pay bracket. Many good players will try to pick up on who those people are and will try to run over them during that period. That's a great time to accumulate chips.

Typically, when you barely make it into the money, you basically get your money back or you may even double your money. It's so hard to make it into-the-money that you need to have a goal of making more profit than that or otherwise you will not be a winner over time. If you play with a style that is conservative with a goal to just make it in the money, then you have no hope of making a final table and playing for a big pay off which should be the real goal in playing in any regular tournament (unless you get lucky with lots of good hands).

As far a making bets/bluffs on a flush draw... If I'm against another player that I can run over, then I might have done the same thing... it is real hard to say... As others have said, it all depends on the current situation, who the other player is, is he a tight player, does he have a big stack, is he a calling station, did I raise preflop, if so I may keep betting my draw because it appears I have a big pair and I might get him to fold, did he raise preflop, maybe he has a made hand, etc...

There are large satellite tournaments whereby the prize is split up evenly among all of the "winners". Then your goal is to just make it into the "money" because the prize is the same for all the winners. You have have to outlast long enough to win a seat into the target tournament. You still don't want to be too tight but if I was lucky enough to accumulate a chip count that was in the top 10, then I would probably throttle down my action and become more patient for more quality hands. (But that depends on now many people win seats... will 100 people get seats or only the top 3... it just depends on the situation).