Rose in touch at BMW Championship

Justin Rose continued his good form with a solid start to the second round at the £3.5m BMW Championship in Illinois.

Rose, who shot a six-under-par 65 in the opening round, carded one birdie in his first four holes to improve to seven-under on the soggy Cog Hill course.

He slipped two strokes behind American leader Jonathan Byrd, who also made a strong start with two birdies in four holes.

Byrd was one stroke ahead of Colombian Camilo Villegas, with Australians Aaron Baddeley and Nathan Green equal third with Rose.

Tiger Woods remained as he started the day at four-under through three holes.

Earlier, barely one hour of play was possible before heavy rain halted proceedings, dropping more than half an inch of rain on the course and causing a stoppage of nearly three hours.

Rose, who had hit just one shot before the delay, is one of three British players in the field, along with Ian Poulter and Luke Donald.

Poulter, who needs to finish probably no worse than second to advance to next week’s Tour Championship, made a good start, picking up a birdie at the first and parring the next five holes to be four-under.

Donald remained near the back of the field at five-over through seven holes.

The BMW Championship is the third of four events in the new FedEx Cup play-off series and although 70 players qualified only 66 started, with Padraig Harrington and Phil Mickelson the notable absentees.

The top 30 players on a points list after the BMW qualify for the Tour Championship.

Rose, at 23rd in the standings, is assured of advancing, but Donald, ranked 28th, is vulnerable.

Mickelson leads the standings from fellow Americans Steve Stricker and Woods.

Woods is in the running to win the 10million US dollars (£5million) prize awarded to the points leader after the Tour Championship, even though he skipped the first play-off event.

He has a great record at Cog Hill, winning the old Western Open in 1997, 1999 and 2003.