KAPALUA, Maui » The man from Down Under is back on top.

Fending off a phenomenal charge by Rory Sabbatini, Geoff Ogilvy became the second Australian to win back-to-back tournaments on the Plantation Course with a final-round 67 to capture the SBS Championship by a single shot.

His 22-under 270 bested Sabbatini, who closed with a stellar 10-under 63 to apply pressure on Ogilvy down the stretch. Sabbatini's 21-under 271 left him alone in second, with American Matt Kuchar (67) finishing third at 19-under 273.

Not since fellow Aussie Stuart Appleby won this tournament three times starting in 2004 had anyone managed to successfully defend his title here, leaving Ogilvy on top of the PGA Tour world as he heads to the Middle East to play in the Abu Dhabi Championship in the United Arab Emirates in two weeks.

Only South African Ernie Els has won the first two stops on the PGA Tour since the openers moved to Hawaii, a record that will stand for another year as Ogilvy opts to skip the Sony Open in Hawaii. Ogilvy said earlier in the week he wanted to play in the European Tour event because the field promises to be a challenging one.

He certainly rose to the challenge this week in this elite 28-man field. Last year, he held a five-shot lead going into the final round and cruised to a six-shot win. This time he made the turn trailing by two, with Sabbatini on top attempting one of the greatest final-round comebacks in tour history.

But it wasn't meant to be, as Ogilvy overcame a shaky bogey at the par-4 sixth after hitting his tee shot in the hazard. He went 5 under the rest of the way to give the international golfers their ninth consecutive victory at this winners-only tournament.

“;I think there was more pressure here,”; Ogilvy said. “;The pressure is off when it's black and white. You get to 22 under, or 21 at least, or it's all over. So it's a different type of pressure.”;

Sabbatini jokingly told his wife on Saturday night that he needed to shoot 10 under in the final round to have any chance of tracking down third-round leader Lucas Glover. After leading the first three days, Glover slipped down the leaderboard to a tie for 14th, thanks to a closing 76.

There were several other golfers who gave it a go, but it eventually narrowed to two, as Sean O'Hair doubled at the last and Kuchar managed only par over the final four holes. Sabbatini finished about 90 minutes before Ogilvy, opting to watch from the clubhouse and hit a few golf balls on the range.

Ogilvy birdied the difficult par-3 11th to put himself in position to win. He followed it up with back-to-back birdies at Nos. 14 and 15 to seal the deal. Ogilvy parred in to secure his seventh win on the PGA Tour.

“;What do you say?”; the emotional Ogilvy said. “;It's nice to come back to defend a tournament. It's the first time I've ever defended a golf tournament, which is pretty exciting. The first win of the year, first week with new clubs, brand-new driver, brand-new irons, perfect. I've got such a good feel going around this golf course.”;

Ogilvy conceded he was a little surprised walking up the ninth fairway to see Sabbatini at the top of the leaderboard.

“;He probably wasn't on the map at the start of the day,”; Ogilvy said. “;So coming up nine with nine holes to play, we knew what we had to do. I had to shoot 3 under on the back nine. It's hard to make birdies when you have to make birdies. I have had that situation with a couple of holes to play. So I'm pretty proud of the fact that I feel like I managed to shoot a few under on the back nine when I needed to.”;

Five consecutive birdies on the back nine put Sabbatini in a position to win. Had he managed a birdie at the last, it might have changed things for him. But a bad drive and a missed 11-footer for birdie foiled his comeback.

“;It's my goal every year to get to play in this event,”; Sabbatini said. “;Life goes on. I said to my caddie on the 17th tee we need to birdie the last two holes to have a chance. Obviously at that point Geoff had a lot of holes left to play. It was a situation where you had to keep moving forward to put the pressure on. I had my opportunity. Unfortunately, it didn't pan out.”;