LA QUINTA — As Pat Perez walked up to a three-foot eagle putt that would clinch his first PGA Tour victory at the 50th Bob Hope Chrysler Classic on Sunday, he had one thought.

“What I thought really was, it's about time,” Perez said. “It's about time. I put the work in, it's been just over seven years. It's about time.”

Perez, known as both a talented and temperamental player, controlled both his emotions and his golf ball during a wind-swept final round to earn a three-shot victory over John Merrick in the 50th annual Hope tournament, at the Arnold Palmer Private Course at PGA West.

Perez' tap-in eagle on the par-5 18th hole capped a 3-under 69 and a 33-under 327 performance, tied for the third-lowest winning score in the event's five decades.

“The weather was tough and I think that kind of helped me, because if the weather was perfect, you never know,” Perez said. “Someone could have shot 60 or 61. So I actually didn't mind the wind blowing all the way around.”

After four perfect days of weather and a scoring barrage that seemed to include a new PGA Tour record each day, swirling winds clocked at more than 30 mph sent scores soaring for the field. And those winds hammered fourth-round leader Steve Stricker into submission.

Stricker took a triple-bogey 7 on the seventh hole when he hit a drive into a lake, then was clearly impacted by the wind when he hit a drive out of bounds right and then into a lake left on the par-4 10th on the way to an 8.

“It's just a couple of bad swings that really cost me big time,” said Stricker, who shot 77 and finished tied for third at 28-under with Mike Weir. “And I hit them in spots where I couldn't recover from them.”

As Stricker faded and other charges by players such as Weir (67) and Stephen Ames (63) came up short, it was Merrick who forged a tie for the lead on the back nine. But shaky chip shots on the 17th and 18th holes led to a bogey and par, respectively, dropping Merrick one shot behind Perez.

Needing only a par on the final par-5 for his first victory, Perez instead hit a solid drive and then his 6-iron over the lake in front of the green. That ball rolled to three feet, and Perez had his first victory.

“I don't lay up,” Perez said of the 6-iron second shot into crossing wind over a lake. “I hit a 6-iron. I mean, how hard is it? It's downwind, you've got 100 yards to hit it up there. I'm not going to lay up with a L-wedge over here and an L-wedge over there. It's 6-iron. I was going to hit it.”

For Perez, the victory was evidence that plenty of hard work he put in over the winter, including at The Madison Club in La Quinta in the last two months, paid off.

“I usually just screw around and play and have some drinks and whatever, but this time it was serious,” said Perez, until now known more for on-course club-smashing meltdowns than for his play. “I got to a point in my career, after seven years now, that I was just tired of being average. I was tired of being nobody.”

Perez was far from average Sunday, making five birdies and the closing eagle while overcoming two bogeys and a double bogey on the par-3 fifth when his tee shot hit rocks left of the green and bounced into a lake. But how Perez responded after the double bogey, which came following three consecutive birdies, was as important as any single shot he made.

“Before, if I made double on No. 5, the tournament was over,” Perez said. “I look at that as just a speed bump now. I had plenty of holes left I could make a lot of birdies coming in.”

Merrick's big move came when he rolled in a 10-foot eagle putt on the 11th hole to move to 6-under for the day and 31 under for the tournament. Starting eight shots back of Stricker, Merrick suddenly found himself tied for the lead.

“Starting the day, I didn't really think I had a chance,” said Merrick, who closed with a 67. “I was just trying to put up a good round and see what happens. But when you get that close, you kind of get a taste of it, you want to pull it off and finish it off. But it just didn't work out that way.”

Merrick was still tied with Perez at 31 under after Perez bogeyed the par-3 15th. But Merrick bogeyed the par-3 17th, missing the green, running his chip 10 feet past and missing that par putt. On the 18th, a reachable par-5, Merrick missed the green right, ran his chip the hole about 12 feet and missed the much-needed birdie putt.

That left the door open for Perez to play controlled golf to win his first title.

“I figured I could just play solid and hit some good shots and kind of stay calm and think about what I'm doing out there, I was going to be fine,” Perez said.

A solid up-and-down par on the 17th set Perez up for the 18th hole and his walk to victory.

“Today, I really knew I was ready,” Perez said. “Even if I didn't win, I know I was still ready. It was still going to be a good year, because I was prepared. I prepared myself all week. I prepared all winter to get ready for this in the same desert, and it just means the world.”