BMW Championship 2018: Play postponed after torrential rain

There could yet be a 54-hole finish after more than three inches of rain fell over the week

A stream of rain water runs down the 18th fairway (Getty Images)

The BMW Championship has been pushed into Monday after torrential rain battered the Aronimink Golf Club here in Pennsylvania.

There could yet be a 54-hole finish after more than three inches of rain fell over the week. Justin Rose holds the lead after three rounds with Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele just a shot back.

But with conditions both on and around the course increasingly treacherous the decision was made to postpone Sunday’s play.

"We've got kind of a mess out there,” the PGA Tour’s vice president of rules and competition Slugger White said. "As of right now [Sunday afternoon], the golf course is unplayable. If it stopped raining right now for a couple hours, we might be able to get to play. The greens are fine, the bunkers are going to be fine.

"We've got teeing grounds that are very marginal, and we've got fairways that are very marginal. We obviously need it to stop right now so we have two to two and a half hours to let it drain down and get the maintenance crew out there to see if we can push some water around.''

The Tour’s goal is still to complete a 72-hole tournament but in the event that cannot happen on Monday a Tuesday finish is not being considered.

"Nor would we start a round on Monday thinking we could not get half the field finished,” White added.

In the event of a shortened competition full ranking and FedEx Cup points would be awarded along with the full $9million prize.

A number of the world’s top players will be looking anxiously at the skies with places at the season-ending Tour Championship in a fortnight’s time at stake.

Jordan Spieth is one of those on the top 30 bubble and at 31^st in the standings would be set to miss out on a place at East Lake as things stand.

The final wildcard pick for Jim Furyk’s United States Ryder Cup team, originally scheduled for Monday, won’t be made until the conclusion of the BMW – whenever that comes – with Schauffele and Tony Finau the two likely candidates for a place in Paris yet to learn their fate.