Lahiri, who had three birdies — two of them in last three holes and one bogey, is still six shots behind the leader, Adam Scott, who is looking to make it two wins in two weeks.
The Blue Monster, at the Trump National at Doral was somewhat more benign than it usually is with the wind not being as strong as it normally is but the layout continues to challenge the best pros in the world.
Lahiri hit solidly and putted well but was unable to hole them as he burnt the edges and stopped inches short at times.
For the second straight day, it was a shaky start with a bogey opening the proceedings. Lahiri got into problems by hitting his opening tee shot into the intermediate, from where he went into the left rough.
By the time he came to the green he had a 23-footer for par, which he missed. But he got into his stride quickly and settled in well by finding the greens with great regularity even when he was not on the fairway.
He birdied the par-four third with a seven-footer, and over the next six holes, he was consistently inside 20-feet with his approach, but always needed two putts for pars. He did miss a seven-footer for birdie on eighth.
On the turn, he was again steady, ensuring no mishaps.
From 10th to 15th, he was again in the 40-70 foot zone and always got his pars, including one from eight feet on 11th and another from just over 12 feet on 13th.
The consistency paid off finally on 16th, when he hit his approach to under five and holed it for birdie and again on the challenging 18th, he holed a good 14-footer for his third birdie and wrapped up the round in 70. .
PTI