The Indian ace did give himself chances, but failed to get his putts to drop. Lahiri also went twice into the water and missed a lot of makeable putts.
Playing at the Stadium Course, Lahiri made as many as five birdies, but he also gave away three bogeys and one double.
Lahiri did give himself a lot of chances but with his putting deserting him - he missed at least two putts inside five feet and another four or five inside 15 feet.
The cut will come after three rounds.
Also Read
Hudson Swafford beat the rain to go into lead while veteran Phil Mickelson played his best in the worst of the conditions.
Still searching for his first PGA Tour win after four years, Swafford finished with seven-under 65 at the Nicklaus course just before the rains came.
He had a one-stroke lead over Danny Lee and first-round leader Dominic Bozzelli were tied for second at 13-under.
Mickelson, the tournament ambassador, followed an opening 68 at La Quinta with a 66 to reach 10-under in his return from two sports hernia surgeries.
Brendan Steele was two strokes back at 12-under with Brian Harman.
Steele shot a 64 on the Nicklaus layout, birdieing four of the last six holes.
The tee times were moved up an hour to 7:30 am to make up for the storm that rolled in over the San Jacinto Mountains at about 1 pm.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content