GLENVIEW, Ill. -- Kris Blanks (69), Skip Kendall (71) and David McKenzie (67) will enter the final 18 holes of the $750,000 Bank of America Open -- one of the premier events on the Nationwide Tour -- deadlocked at 12-under-par 204.

Brendon de Jonge (64), Chris Smith (68) and Tommy Tolles (69) are their nearest challengers at 10-under 206, while Casey Wittenberg (69) and Matt Weibring (70) headline a group of four players three shots back.

Blanks jumped out of the gate with birdies on The Glen Club's first five holes Saturday -- equaling the tournament record set by Aron Price a year ago on the same stretch. But after a torrid start Blanks suffered a setback with bogeys on two of the next four holes (Nos. 6 and 9) -- a four-hole stretch that annually ranks as the toughest at The Glen Club and has been dubbed "The Four Horsemen" by Bank of America Tournament Director Scott Cassin.

"To get off to as good of a start as I did and to hit it as good as I did and then to finish like that puts a sour taste in my mouth," said Blanks, who finished the round poorly as well with bogeys on the final two holes. "To make bogeys on Nos. 17 and 18 is just awful. But I'm still leading, so that is the silver lining."

Blanks arrived in Chicago riding a six-tournament cuts-made streak, which included three consecutive top-25 finishes and a season-best tie for eighth-place finish at the Fort Smith Classic. That momentum carried the 35-year-old Warner Robbins, Ga., native to a 7-under 65 on opening day and now within just 18 holes of stepping into the winner's circle for the first time on the Nationwide Tour. If he does so, the victory will come on the same course where a year ago he established a career-best third-place finish.

Kendall did his best to equal Blanks' start with birdies of his own on three of the first five holes -- but also faced difficulties with bogeys on Nos. 9, 11 and 16. He finally moved to 12-under when he rolled in a 10-footer for birdie on the par-3 17th hole to secure his spot in the final threesome on Sunday.

"It was nice getting that birdie on the 17th hole," said Kendall, a 43-year-old native of Milwaukee, Wis. "That was huge for me. I was just trying to hang on to Kris' shirt tails at the start of the day."

Blanks added, "Skip played great today and it looked like we were going to distance ourselves and make this a two-man horse race. It didn't quite turn out that way in the end."

While Blanks and Kendall went through their fair share of highs and lows, McKenzie was consistent the whole day -- with a bogey on No. 16 his only miscue. The 40-year-old Melbourne, Australia, native capped off a four-birdie effort with a downhill 30-footer on the first hole, the same distance he rolled in for eagle on the par-5 14th hole. A good finish on Sunday will turn around a disappointing start to the season for McKenzie, who has missed eight cuts in 11 starts and sits in 90th place on the official money list.

"Playing better turns everything around," said McKenzie. "I'm trying to look at everything as the glass being half-full instead of half-empty. But if you look at my record, I never do anything good until June. Look it up. I think I've only had two top-10 finishes -- maybe three -- before the month of June in my career."

Final-round tee times will run from 8:45 a.m.-10:25 a.m. with threesomes off of split tees.

Third-Round News & Notes: The second round was completed on Saturday morning with Skip Kendall holding a one-stroke lead over Kyle Reifers. ... 54-hole co-leader Kris Blanks' five-hole birdie streak to start the third round was just one hole shy of equaling the season's best streak of six birdies in a row set by Cody Freeman, David Mathis and Bubba Dickerson. ... The 54-hole leader at the Bank of America Open has won three of six times, including most recently John Riegger in 2007. ... The third-round scoring average was 70.969. ... Sunday's winner will take home the first-place prize of $135,000.

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