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

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 round of 77 scuppered 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 would have 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."

Collated final round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, PGA West Palmer Course, Palm Springs, California, United States of America

(USA unless stated, par 72):

327 Pat Perez 61 63 67 67 69

330 John Merrick 68 65 67 63 67

332 Steve Stricker 65 67 61 62 77, Mike Weir (Can) 62 70 67 66 67

333 Bo Van Pelt 66 65 68 67 67, Tim Clark (Rsa) 66 69 63 66 69, Stephen Ames (Can) 71 63 70 66 63, Webb Simpson 68 66 64 66 69

334 Brad Adamonis 67 62 71 69 65, Chad Campbell 66 71 68 65 64, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 63 65 67 69 70, John Senden (Aus) 67 70 65 64 68, Tom Pernice Jnr. 65 63 68 69 69

335 Chris Stroud 65 63 67 69 71, Robert Garrigus 67 65 64 66 73, Bill Lunde 67 68 62 69 69, Rich Beem 66 65 65 68 71, D.J. Trahan 65 67 65 68 70

336 Charley Hoffman 72 66 64 65 69, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 66 70 62 67 71, Brian Gay 65 70 72 63 66, Lucas Glover 65 68 68 67 68, John Huston 69 70 64 64 69, Scott Piercy 66 66 70 65 69

337 Nick Watney 66 71 72 63 65, Colt Knost 69 68 70 63 67, Chris DiMarco 64 68 69 66 70, David Toms 68 65 68 67 69, Matt Kuchar 66 67 71 69 64, Bubba Watson 62 69 68 63 75, John Mallinger 66 67 65 68 71, Steve Marino 65 69 64 70 69, Bill Haas 68 68 67 67 67

338 Charlie Wi (Kor) 68 67 61 71 71, Scott McCarron 66 68 63 69 72, Vaughn Taylor 63 67 64 68 76, Casey Wittenberg 69 66 64 68 71, David Berganio Jnr. 63 64 68 70 73, Jason Dufner 63 65 67 71 72, David Mathis 66 66 69 65 72, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 67 65 69 67 70

339 Jerry Kelly 66 71 65 68 69, Justin Leonard 72 67 63 68 69, Cameron Beckman 68 67 70 68 66, Ken Duke 68 68 64 71 68, Woody Austin 66 68 68 67 70, Briny Baird 63 63 70 72 71

340 Dean Wilson 67 71 66 65 71, Joe Durant 73 66 65 69 67, Joe Ogilvie 70 73 67 62 68, Ryan Palmer 70 65 66 66 73, Kevin Sutherland 64 67 67 69 73, Cliff Kresge 68 63 67 73 69

341 Ben Crane 63 70 70 69 69, Martin Laird (Sco) 67 68 68 68 70, Heath Slocum 65 67 73 65 71, Rick Price 64 70 66 69 72

342 Alex Cejka (Ger) 68 67 68 70 69, Nicholas Thompson 66 70 68 68 70

343 Jeff Klauk 67 67 67 69 73, Michael Allen 68 71 66 68 70, Chris Couch 67 63 69 66 78, Fred Couples 68 72 64 68 71, Peter Lonard (Aus) 65 67 68 69 74, Jason Bohn 66 70 65 67 75

344 Dustin Johnson 68 71 67 66 72, Bob Estes 66 69 66 71 72, Tim Petrovic 68 69 65 71 71, Chez Reavie 66 66 68 69 75

345 Kirk Triplett 67 69 69 65 75, Michael Letzig 66 68 68 71 72, Steve Lowery 67 65 71 68 74

348 Glen Day 65 68 71 67 77

350 Brendon De Jonge 67 70 65 70 78