Beau Hossler has to win to reach post-season. He’s off to a good start at Wyndham

Turns out Jackson Koivun isn’t the only player trying to go from college to the PGA Tour postseason. Virginia grad Ben James made eagle on both the par fives on Thursday and only a soft finish with a pair of bogeys kept him from sharing the lead with Beau Hossler in the Wyndham Championship.

The final tournament of the regular season determines the top 70 in the FedEx Cup who advance to the postseason.

James, the No. 1 player in the PGA Tour University ranking that came with a tour card, has to win to reach the top 70. He was tied for the lead until a bogey-birdie-bogey finish for a 62, both bogeys coming after he missed 6-foot par putts.

Koivun earned his card from the accelerated PGA Tour University program for underclassmen – he clinched his card as a sophomore and deferred it one year – and is in much better shape at No. 70. Koivun missed some birdie chances coming in and shot 67.

Hossler is at No. 122 in the FedEx Cup and also has to win to reach the first playoff event next week. He ran off four straight birdies early in his front nine at Sedgefield Country Club, and played the final holes in four under with a 30-foot eagle putt on the par-five 15th.

“Try and win a golf tournament,” Hossler said. “That’s all there is to it.”

James, the 36-hole leader at the RBC Canadian Open in his professional debut before crashing on the weekend, made a 15-foot eagle putt on the 15th that allowed him to catch Hossler.

With the chance at another 59 at Sedgefield, he three-putted from just inside 25 feet on the par-three 16th, birdied the 17th and then came up short of the green from the first cut on the 18th, chipped to 6 feet and missed the par putt.

Still, it was an impressive start at a tournament where so many players know they have to go low and finish high if they want to advance.

“Every week someone always shoots anywhere from 63 to 60 or 59 the first day, so it’s always there. You just try to put yourself in position, play the best you can,” James said.

Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., was the low Canadian after completing his first round, shooting a four-under 66 to sit in a tie for 23rd. Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., was tied for 54th at two under.

Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., and Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., were all tied for 73rd at one under. A.J. Ewart of Coquitlam, B.C., was tied for 111th at one over, but he still had a hole left in his first round when play was suspended.

No one had a more bizarre round than Sahith Theegala, whose postseason is safe at No. 43. He didn’t make a par on the front nine – eight birdies and one bogey. And then all he could manage were pars on the back nine until stuffing his approach tight on the 18th for a birdie and a 62.