Raymond Wooten won his third Budweiser Classic title with a 3- shot victory at Boscobel. (GolfClub Photo)

Raymond Wooten started the final round of the Budweiser Classic at Boscobel one shot off the lead by shooting a 6-under par 66.

“Last week at the Am (South Carolina Amateur at the Columbia Country Club) I played ok, but something was missing,” said Wooten. “It just wasn’t clicking for me,” he said.

The mid-am from Clemson finished in a tie for 22nd, but while practicing for the Budweiser, Wooten found what was missing in Columbia.

“I had a lot of swing thoughts and I finally hit on the right one and started to play much better,” he said.

Wooten put his new found swing on display in the first round shooting a 6-under par 66 to trail former champion Robbie Biershenk by a shot.

While Wooten and Biershenk led after the first round there was not much breathing room for the two.

Robbie Biershenk shot an opening round 65, but fell off the lead in the final round and finished in a three-way tie for second. (GolfClub Photo)

Brian Davidson shot a 67 for third and three golfers were tied for fourth.

B.J. Hill, Jr., Taylor White and Coty Hall all posted 4-under par 68s.

Mike Hartin was at 3-under par 69 and eight other golfers were at 2-under par 70, all within striking distance of the leaders

In the second round, Biershenk’s putter abandoned him while Wooten was able to make some early birdies to move into the lead by the turn.

“I had a really bad tee shot on eight, but I was able to scramble back and make a good birdie. I think that is were I got the lead,” he said.

Wooten was 3-under par on the front nine, but gave a couple of shots back with bogeys on number 10 and 11.

A J Nolin shot the best final round, a 6-under par 66 to move into a tie for second. (GolfClub Photo)

“I didn’t think I lost the lead, but I knew a couple of guys had cut it down,” he said.

A.J. Nolin was one of the golfers at 70 after the first round. In the second round he was able to put pressure on Wooten shooting the low round of the day, a 6-under par 66.

In addition to Nolin, taking a run for the lead was Hill who had moved to the front early in the final round.

Both golfers got within a shot of Wooten, but the two-time champion was able to hold off the challengers.

Hill posted his second straight 4-under par 68 to finish at 136 in a tie with Biershenk and Nolin for 2nd place.

Wooten shot a 5-under par 67 in the second round for a two-day total of 133 and a 3-shot victory.

Wooten’s third win ties him with Jeremy Revis and leaves him one behind Ken Murray who owns four Budweiser titles.

“There really wasn’t anything exceptional about either day. I was just able to put into play what I found on the range and it paid off,” said the three time champion.

The Budweiser is the largest weekend tournament in the upstate, while the field was down a little this year almost 200 golfers played in the tournament.

The tournament also has the rare distinction of never having lost a round to weather in the 31 year history of the event.

Raymond Wooten won the Budweiser Classic for the third time. (GolfClub Photo)

Flight winners included: First Flight -Adam Zbynski, Second Flight – Russell Coakley, Third Flight – Santana Nestor, Fourth Flight – Nick Wheeler, Fifth Flight – Lance Martin, Sixth Flight – Kyle Coggins, Consolation Flight – Darryl Cossgrove.