Rose waits as Spieth sweats

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Justin Rose has to wait until Monday to have a shot at getting to No. 1 in the world. And he still might not have to hit another shot at the BMW Championship.

A steady rain washed out play Sunday, and the PGA Tour says it will wait until Monday to decide whether it can try to complete 72 holes.

Rose has a one-shot lead over Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele.

“We had a golf course we couldn’t play,” said Slugger White, the tour’s vice president of competition. “We’re shoveling sand against the tide.”

Tiger Woods meanwhile was five shots behind but still was set to be at the Tour Champion- ship for the first time since 2013.

No one needs to play Monday as much as Jordan Spieth.

He had to rally for a 66 on Saturday, and while he was 11 shots out of the lead, another round would give him a chance to move back into the top 30, avoid violating a new policy and save the PGA Tour a headache.

If he doesn’t qualify, Spieth would violate a recent policy requiring PGA Tour members to play a tournament they haven’t been to in the last four years. They are exempt from the policy by playing 25 events.

Spieth is at 23 and needs to get to East Lake (the Ryder Cup counts as a start) to reach the magic number. No one has violated the 2-year-old policy, and the tour has not figured out a punishment. —