PGA TOUR: Pat Perez claimed his first PGA Tour title as he eagled the final hole to seal the Bob Hope Classic yesterday.

The 32-year-old carded a three-under-par 69 in the fifth and final round to finish 33 under par and win by three strokes from John Merrick, who signed for a 67.

Steve Stricker entered the final round with a three-shot lead over Perez but a five-over-par 77 ended his chances as he finished five strokes back.

Perez was delighted his first PGA victory came at a tournament hosted by the legendary Arnold Palmer.

“I think it’s special,” he said.

“I feel privileged to win the tournament that Mr Palmer won 50 years ago and now he’s back hosting it. I feel honoured that he was there to shake my hand when I got done and he’s such a legend that it’s just a great feeling on top of everything else.

“Today, I knew that I was ready,” Perez added. “I prepared myself all week. I played all winter to get ready for this and it just means the world.”

Merrick held a share of the lead before a bogey at the 17th saw his charge falter.

“I think I got a little quick,” he said.

“On the last three holes, I didn’t go through my whole process like I was during the whole day, and that could have hurt me.

“But it was playing tough out there. And I think I made two bogeys today, and that’s not bad out there in that wind. So what can you do?”

Stricker, who fired a 62 on Saturday, ended in a tie for third with Canadian Mike Weir (67).

“It’s just a couple of bad swings that really cost me big time,” Stricker said.

“And I hit them in spots where I couldn’t recover from them. It was tough to judge the wind.

“It was tough to pick a correct club and it was hard to feel comfortable with anything.”

Despite windy conditions that included gusts of up to 40 miles per hour, Stephen Ames fired a 63 - the lowest round of the day - to climb into a tie for fifth with Bo Van Pelt (67), Tim Clark (69) and Webb Simpson (69).

However, the day belonged to Perez.

A double-bogey on the fifth hole ended a run of three consecutive birdies. After a par on the sixth, Perez dropped another stroke with a bogey on the seventh but bounced back with birdies on the eighth and 11th.

He was one-under on the day until he hit a perfect drive on the 18th and followed it up with a six-iron near the flag.

“I hit it right just in, just left of the bunker,” Perez said.

“But I had two mind sets. I was going to wait to see what (Merrick) did. If he made four, I have to hit a good shot, I have to make four because I’m not going to a play-off.”

“I don’t think I could have hit that shot again to be honest with you. Even if I had to do it, I couldn’t hit it again. There’s no way, because the wind was swirling and the whole deal and I couldn’t hit that shot again.”

Stricker, by contrast, endured a miserable afternoon.

The 41-year-old sank two birdies, but it was not enough to make up for disasters on the seventh and 10th.

Stricker was comfortably in the lead before a triple-bogey seven on the seventh and a quadruple-bogey eight on his first hole after the turn ended his bid.

“Well, the wind was blowing pretty good there at 10 and I just cut it a little bit instead of drawing it,” he said.

“I needed to turn it over a little bit and once it got out into the middle there, the wind just ripped it to the right, and that one hurt the most.

“Unfortunately, it’s a little tough to recover from a triple and a quad. But overall, if you’d told me I would have played like I did this week coming into the tournament, I still take a lot of positives away, even though today didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to.”