Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri endured a rather trying day amid breezy conditions to card a three-over 74 in the second round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open here.
Though the round itself was incomplete, Lahiri who was tied-fourth after the first round, finished his second round at three-over 74, which now puts him at two-under for the week.
That will still get him into weekend action, as he is placed tied-37th and the cut is likely to fall at even par.
The wind apart, the firm greens tested the golfers at the TPC Scottsdale's Stadium Course, which is a mere 10 minutes from leader the Korean-American leader, James Hahn's residence.
The 2014 winner here, Hahn, is much loved by the boisterous crowd and he took the lead with six-under 65 to move to 10-under 132 while Rickie Fowler (65-68) was one behind alongside Korean-Kiwi Danny Lee (67-66).
Hideki Matsuyama (65-70) and Shane Lowry (65-70), two of the co-leaders after first round dropped to tied-fourth at seven-under.
It was not the best of days for Lahiri who missed almost 50 per cent of the fairways. On the par-5 third and par-4 sixth, he went into fairway bunkers and in both cases ended with a bogey.
On the sixth, he had a tough second in the bunker and barely hit out into the rough and then went into the rough again off the third.
The eighth was perhaps his first bright spot of the day, when he holed a birdie after hitting his second to inside four feet.
But his woes were far from over. On the 10th, he missed a 10-footer for par and on par-3 12th, he went into the left rear green side bunker and from there over the green and into the water.
He took a drop in the right intermediate and then chipped to six feet for a double bogey.
Any chances of making up on the two par-fives on 13th and 15th vanished when he missed birdie putts from just over six feet first on 11th and from 11 feet on 15th. A birdie did come from just inside 20 feet on 17th, but the damage had been done by then.
Finally despite going into right rough and green side bunker he scrambled to a par on 18th.
Lahiri, winner of Malaysian Open and Hero Indian Open last season, was t-28th at Career Builder Challenge and missed the cut at Farmer's Insurance last week.
A steadier weekend could still see him rise up the fairly tight leaderboard.
Phil Mickelson (69-71) was also tied-37th with Lahiri, while FedEX Cup leader, Kevin Kisner, will likely miss the cut after 71-73 start. Also making early exits were Jason Dufner (71-74), Padraig Harrington (74-72) and Ian Poulter (74-72).
An 11-foot birdie on 10th saw him reach three-under for the day and seven-under for the tournament, at which point he was sole fourth. He bogeyed the 13th, missed a birdie putt from inside eight feet on 16th before missing an even shorter par putt from just over five feet on 17th.
McIlroy, a four-time Major Champion, trailed Scott by two shots overnight but needed only five holes to pass the Australian after birdieing the first and fifth holes as Scott dropped a shot on the fourth.
McIlroy, who has switched to a cross-handed putting grip, added further birdies on the eighth and tenth holes in a four under par round of 68 to move to 12 under par at Trump National Doral to give himself a chance of capturing his third WGC title.
Scott (73) dropped to nine under, and was joined in second by defending champion Johnson (71). England's Danny Willett (72) shares fourth position with Americans Phil Mickelson (70) and Bubba Watson (71).
Spanish pair Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Sergio Garcia returned matching rounds of 67 to share seventh place on five under par, alongside Lahiri.
