Rain stalls Rose’s bid for first No. 1 ranking
Two putts began taking on more significance with each rain delay until there was no golf at all Sunday at the BMW Championship.
Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, already was saturated when a steady rain caused tiny streams and large puddles in the fairways, leaving the PGA Tour little choice but to wait until today to either play the final round or decide to cut short the third FedEx Cup playoff event to 54 holes.
“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.”
Justin Rose was ahead by one shot, all because of one putt.
He was tied with Xander Schauffele on the 18th hole of the third round Saturday when Schauffele’s 8-foot par putt rimmed around the high side of the cup, giving him a bogey and Rose the lead.
Rose can go to No. 1 in the world for the first time in his career with a victory, making him the 22nd player to reach the top since the ranking began in 1986. He also would be the No. 2 seed behind Bryson DeChambeau among the top 30 who advance to the Tour Championship in two weeks, giving him a clear shot at the $10 million prize.
Keegan Bradley might be there, too, all because of one putt.
Bradley left his 50-foot birdie putt about 7 feet short on the 18th hole Saturday. He made that for par to finish the third round in sixth place, three shots out of the lead. That projects him to move up 22 spots into the 30th position in the FedEx Cup, which would bump out Jordan Spieth.
If the final round starts today and more than half the field completes the round, the BMW Championship would go into Tuesday if necessary to finish. If not, the final round could be scrapped and the 54hole scores would stand.
Tiger Woods is five shots behind after a 66 in the third round, but still was set for to be at the Tour Championship for the first time since 2013. EUROPEAN MASTERS >> Matthew Fitzpatrick made a 12-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to become the first back-to-back European Masters winner since Seve Ballesteros 40 years ago.
Motor sports
BRICKYARD 400 DELAYED >> Persistent rain washed out the Brickyard 400 and delayed the conclusion of NASCAR’s regular season.
Rain washed out the entire weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the final race before the playoffs was moved to today. It will run at 11 a.m. (Pacific), after the rescheduled Xfinity Series race. Kyle Busch is scheduled to start on the pole alongside Kevin Harvick when the race does begin.
INASCAR’s playoffs begin next weekend in Las Vegas and the sanctioning body is eager to get the regular season finale concluded at Indianapolis. The race sets the field for the 16-driver playoffs. DOVIZIOSO WINS SAN MARINO GP >> Andrea Dovizioso and the Ducati team won on home soil in the San Marino Grand Prix, while Marc Marquez extended his lead atop the MotoGP standings.
Marquez now leads Dovizioso by 67 points, while Valentino Rossi — who finished seventh — dropped from second to third in the standings, 70 points behind.
WNBA
STORM ON BRINK OF TITLE >> Breanna Stewart scored nine of her 25 points in the fourth quarter, Sue Bird came up with a key defensive play in the final 10 seconds, and the Storm held off the Washington Mystics 75-73 to take a 2-0 lead in the WNBA Finals.
Seattle will head to Washington for Game 3 on Wednesday night needing only a split back east to claim the third title in franchise history.
• A’ja Wilson was the unanimous winner as WNBA Rookie of the Year.
The No. 1 pick in the draft this past April averaged 20.7 points and 8 blocks for Las Vegas.
College football
TIDE SET AP POLL RECORD >> Alabama is No. 1 at being No. 1 in The Associated Press college football poll.
The Crimson Tide made its 106th overall appearance at the top of the AP rankings, which started in 1936, passing Ohio State for the most by any school.
Alabama received a season-high 54 first-place votes from the media panel in the Top 25 released Sunday, strengthening its hold on No. 1 over No. 2 Clemson.
No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Ohio State held their spots and Oklahoma moved to No. 5, edging past No. 6 Wisconsin. The Badgers received a first-place vote.
Stanford moved up one spot to No. 9 after defeating USC, which dropped to No. 17 to 22.
SOONERS LOSE ANDERSON >> Oklahoma star running back Rodney Anderson is out for the season with a right knee injury he suffered Saturday against UCLA.
This is the third season-ending injury of the preseason All-Big 12 selection’s career. He suffered a broken leg in the second game of the 2015 season, and a neck injury sidelined him for the 2016 season.
Anderson didn’t start until the middle of last season, but he ran for 1,161 yards and 13 touchdowns.