KAPALUA, Maui » Morgan Pressel did her part to keep the LPGA Tour interested in Maui by winning the inaugural Kapalua LPGA Classic in dramatic fashion.

Morgan Pressel
Helped bring the LPGA
to Kapalua and then
won the inaugural event

  Her 22-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole brought the modest crowd to its feet as the local golf fans welcomed the 20-year-old into the Kapalua family before jetting off to China for the next stop in women's professional golf.

The long flight over the Pacific was a shorter one for Pressel, who finally proved that her major victory at the Kraft Nabisco Championship last year wasn't a product of other professionals collapsing down the stretch, rather her playing a solid final round that held up by day's end.

On Sunday, she went par, birdie, par, birdie over the testy closing holes on the Bay Course to hold off Suzann Pettersen by a single shot, the same woman she beat at the Kraft Nabisco, to win her second tour event.

The fact that she's in the middle of a swing change and in search of a better bag of Callaway clubs just makes this victory that much sweeter. New coach Adam Schreiber, the same man who made Anthony Kim a household name, has been tinkering with her swing the past few months after Pressel steadily dropped down the rankings in 2008.

Coming into the final full-field event on the LPGA Tour, Pressel was No. 23 in the world. After her weekend win, the newest rankings released yesterday had her at No. 13, a big jump befitting an even bigger win for the touring pro who represents Kapalua.

“;I've certainly had my struggles and my troubles since my first win at the Kraft,”; Pressel said. “;That was more of a surprise than anything, I guess you could say, coming from behind the last three or four holes. That came a little bit quicker. I mean, here I am, sleeping on the lead; I didn't sleep too well (Saturday) night.

“;I've worked really hard on my swing changes. I've worked in the gym and worked on trying to get a little more distance—and it's a little bit further—but it's not where I'd like it to be. I've also spent quite a bit of time tinkering with my equipment and Callaway golf and trying to put the best system together.”;

Pressel is well known in Hawaii golf circles for calling out Michelle Wie a few years ago when Wie was all the rage. Wie, considered a step-skipper by most women on the tour, irked Pressel as much as anyone.

Her comments on Wie are well documented. Pressel took the road more traveled by as she played junior golf diligently before turning pro after graduating from high school. Wie did as she pleased and is now paying the price by having to go through Q-school to see if she can hack it out here with women who made it on a more tried-and-true formula.

Many are still upset that Wie opted to play in a men's event earlier this year, rather than trying to qualify for the Women's British Open. It will take time for her to earn the respect of her peers, who thought that decision over the summer was the ultimate diss to their tour.

Pressel was skewered by most members of the Honolulu media for her comments on Wie that now ring truer than any of those stories questioning those remarks. Pressel's winning on Wie's soil hammers home that point even further, giving her the quiet satisfaction that her path here was the proper one.

“;I'm excited, first to be a part of the Kapalua family, and it was a dream that we had to bring the LPGA Tour here,”; Pressel said. “;To be here and to win on top of it is just that much more exciting because I have my Kapalua family, as I'm now calling them; they just cheered me on all week.”;

Given the rousing applause Pressel received at the postgame ceremony, her extended Maui family welcomed her home as well.