Disappointing day for Lahiri, McIlroy turns average round into a leading one

It was a very disappointing day for Anirban Lahiri as he ended with an eight-over 79 that left him with little hope of getting into the weekend at the Wells Fargo Championship.

He was at the bottom of the leaderboard where the cut is likely at one or two-over.

On a scoreboard pockmarked with bogeys, he had two birdies, one on each side of the Quail Hollow, where he missed the cut last year and finished T-41 in 2016.

Lahiri hit just seven of 18 greens in regulation and time and again visited the bunkers and even went into water twice. His short game was also way below his normal one as he missed a lot of putts, too.

Yet, one of his two birdies ironically was from 21 feet, but otherwise it was a day to forget in a hurry.

Rory McIlroy and Joel Dahmen are tied for the lead at 5 under with Dylan Frittelli, Nick Taylor, Patrick Reed, Martin Laird, and Adam Schenk tied for 3rd at four-under.

McIlroy is coming off T-21 at the Masters, which has been his only finish outside of the Top-10 this year in eight previous starts and he has one win at the PLAYERS Championship.

Quail Hollow is where McIlroy won his first PGA TOUR title in 2010, closing with a 62. He lost in a playoff to Rickie Fowler and D.A. Points two years later, and won in 2015.

Dahmen, a cancer survivor, played a more steady game. Playing three groups behind the large crowd following McIlroy, he kept bogeys off his card and holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th for his 66.

Defending champion Jason Day, John Senden, Keith Mitchell, Brian Harman, Jason Dufner, Vaughn Taylor, Brendon Todd, Sebastin Muoz, and Jim Knous are tied for eighth at 3-under.