KAANAPALI — Andrew Swanson accomplished something he had never done before Friday at the Royal Kaanapali Golf Course.

The Clemson University sophomore, playing just his seventh college tournament, is tied for the lead after the first round of the Kaanapali Classic Collegiate Invitational.

Swanson, who is not ranked in the GolfStat.com top 250 individuals in the NCAA Division I ranks, is tied with Oklahoma sophomore Drew Goodman, who is ranked No. 157. Both shot 7-under-par 64 on Friday.

“Felt good, obviously, shooting 7 under, but it was nice that the wind was down today, so I was able to get after pins,” said Swanson, whose best finish as a collegian is eighth. “I wasn’t really as conservative. I missed one green and gave myself a lot of chances and putts started falling.”

He said his first lead at the end of any college round would be something to enjoy.

“Feels good, yeah, it definitely does,” he said. “I’m excited and I just want to play well the next two days, keep doing the same thing.”

Clemson, ranked 62nd in the country as a team, leads the team event at 17-under 267, one shot in front of No. 11 Oklahoma.

Jordan Byrd, the Clemson coach and older brother of five-time PGA Tour winner Jonathan Byrd, said the day went well for his team.

“Love the golf course, we’ve been here quite a few times, so I feel like we have a good idea of how to play the golf course,” Jordan Byrd said. “The wind didn’t really blow today, which makes it a whole lot easier. But we played well today, we’ve kind of been playing a little bit better each week.

“Hopefully we can finish this one off. We’re in good shape after one round, so hopefully we can keep executing.”

Atsuya Oishi led host Hawaii with a 3-under 68, which is tied for 16th individually — the Rainbow Warriors are tied for 12th in the 20-team field at even-par 284.

Oishi, a sophomore from Hiroshima, Japan, said he thoroughly enjoyed the course.

“It’s amazing, you know, it’s like a resort course and good colleges coming in, so I just saw the fans,” Oishi said. “It wasn’t that tough because there’s no wind today, but some of the pin positions, like No. 18, some of the holes are tough, so I have to figure it out.

“But, yeah, I did well.”

Oishi enjoys being the leader of a 10-player roster that includes six in-state players.

“Oh, yeah, it’s so fun,” Oishi said. “There’s guys who are half-Japanese, some guys are 100 percent Japanese, so I feel like home.”

Hawaii coach Scott Simpson was happy to see this event — which ends the fall season for most of the participants — back to hosting a strong field after a couple years of lesser fields due to COVID.

No. 20 Georgia, No. 29 North Florida, No. 40 Ole Miss, No. 45 East Tennessee State and No. 49 Liberty are also in this field.

“COVID kind of hurt for a little while, obviously Kansas was here last year, but to have Oklahoma, Clemson, Liberty, Georgia, East Tennessee, all these guys, we have a lot of top 40, 50 teams,” Simpson said. “It’s a strong field, real strong.”

Simpson is proud to have a roster that is 60 percent local.

“It’s really great,” he said. “We have two local guys who came back, Blaze Akana, who was at Sacramento State, and Remington Hirano, who came from (the University of San Diego). Josh Hayashida decided to stay home, and he was the best junior in the state of Hawaii last year, so that was a huge get. And our guys have gotten better this year, so, yeah, we’re doing really well. I’m really happy.

“Our last ranking was 131 and we’ve never been under 200 that I know of, so we’re moving in the right direction, but we’re having fun — the main thing is I want these guys to have a great four years of college golf and get better.”

Simpson is aware of the junior talent that is present on Maui.

“I don’t think I can name names, but we’re hopefully going to get a Maui kid in here next year — I will let you guess who,” Simpson said. “There’s a lot of good players on Maui, good teachers here, good junior golf programs. No, there are a lot of good players coming out of Maui, next year and then beyond.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com

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KAANAPALI CLASSIC

Friday’s First Round

At Kaanapali Royal Course

Team standings–1. Clemson 267, 2. Oklahoma 268, 3. East Tennessee St. 269, 4. North Florida 273, t5. Kansas 275, t5. Ole Miss 275, t7. Georgia 278, t7. UC Irvine 278, 9. Colorado 279, t10. Boise State 280, t10. Liberty 280, t12. Hawaii 284, t12. Louisiana 284, 14. Denver 285, t15. Wyoming 288, t15.Connecticut 288, 17. CSU Northridge 289, 18. Mount St. Mary’s 290, 19. Gonzaga 293, 20. Air Force 298.