KAPALUA, Maui » Once known as Michelle Wie's foil, Morgan Pressel left that role behind for good yesterday by doing something Wie has never done—win an LPGA Tour event in Hawaii.

She did it in dramatic fashion by sinking a 22-foot birdie putt from off the fringe to edge Suzann Pettersen by one shot at the $1.5 million Kapalua LPGA Classic. Her final-round 69 left her at 8-under 280 for the inaugural tournament, one better than Pettersen, who also birdied the last hole to fashion a 69 of her own.

It was the second time that Pressel has bested Pettersen—the first being at the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship, where Pressel learned of her first major win while on the driving range.

Yesterday, it was Pettersen who was at the practice green when she heard the roar of the crowd, letting her know that Pressel had done her in again. She just smiled and said, “;You expect good players to make putts. I came here and gave it a shot.”;

Pressel, who missed a 2-footer for birdie on Saturday that soured her 5-under 67, made an improbable birdie in the late-afternoon light, knowing full well that a par would force a playoff.

“;On 18, I didn't want to go extra holes,”; Pressel said. “;I've hit it tight there every day and I had what I thought was a perfect little pitch shot there and I just—it was sitting too perfectly up in the rough and I got a little under it, not quite there.

“;From there (off the fringe at the front of the green), you just really hope to two-putt. If it goes in, great. And it went in dead center. I didn't really know what to do. You know, just get a little lucky sometimes.”;

Pressel briefly pulled her Callaway cap over her face, then raised her hand and waved to the crowd, almost embarrassed by how she had won. She smiled, pulled her cap over her face again to hide the tears brimming in her blue eyes, then accepted congratulations from her playing partners and their caddies.

“;I was nervous, I was nervous out there,”; said Pressel, who did her best to keep Pettersen in it with several suspect shots down the stretch. But for every mistake she made, she countered it with an exceptional shot to keep Pettersen at bay.

“;I knew what I had to do,”; Pressel said after Pettersen birdied the final hole to go 7 under for the tournament. I knew that those couple of putts I missed on 14 and 15 could have been important. But then I knew that that birdie on 16 was just what I needed at the right time.”;

She and Pettersen were tied at 7 under at that moment. Pressel then went to the par-3 17th and promptly hooked her shot into the bunker. Had it not found the sand, it would have gone into the water on the right, effectively giving the tournament to Pettersen. The golf ball also hopped out of a potentially game-ending lie in the sand, giving Pressel new life.

“;OK, I stood on the tee and it's the same thing I did on, what, 14? I just—knucklehead play. Pull-hook when the pin is left and left is no good,”; Pressel said. “;So that was a bit frustrating. I actually saw that it was buried like on the lip of the bunker. And so I thought I was done, dead. I thought it was over.

“;And it was quite a relief when I got up there and saw that it was not buried and it was fine in the flat of the bunker. You know, that was a big putt and a big 5-footer, and those are the knee-knockers that you practice and practice, and I guess they make up for the putt I missed yesterday on 18.”;

Much like she did at the season-opening event at the SBS Open, Laura Diaz came close in the final full-field event on the LPGA Tour. There, she finished second to Annika Sorenstam. Here, she shot a final-round 70 to finish in third with a 6-under 282.

“;Close again,”; said Diaz, who hasn't won since 2002. “;But I'm happy with how I played.”;

So was Pressel, who earned enough points to qualify for the ADT Championship held for the top 32 players in the world in December. The prestigious event is held in South Florida.

“;This gets me closer to the ADT, where I can play at home and end the season nicely,”; Pressel said.