Morgan Pressel birdied the final hole to win the inaugural Kapalua LPGA Classic and chalk up her first victory of the season.
The Kapalua tour professional shot a closing three-under 69 to edge out first-round leader Suzann Pettersen, another star seeking her first win of the season, (69) by a stroke on a course were the tradewinds were down considerably from the first three rounds.
Twenty-year-old Pressel birdied two of her final three holes and then made a critical 15-foot putt from the edge of the green to tie up her victory with an eight-under total of 280.
"I was nervous out there," said Pressel, who had missed a simple two-footer for birdie on 18 in the third round.
"I knew what I had to do. I didn't want to have to go extra holes."
The victory was her first win in her last 43 starts and her first top-10 finish since June.
"You expect her to make it," Pettersen said. "You expect good players to make putts."
Pressel won the Kraft Nabisco Championship last year to become the youngest player in LPGA Tour history to win a major.
Ironically Pettersen also tied for second in that event after faltering down the stretch.
Laura Diaz (70) finished third at six-under with Angela Stanford (70) and Sun Young Yoo (72) tied for fourth at four-under.
Pressel shed tears of joy and relief afterwards when she thanked her grandparents.
Winning had not been easy, the young tournament host having to play alongside the world numbers one and two Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam for the first two rounds.
Pressel showed great emotion when she holed the seven-foot birdie putt at the par-four 16th to match Pettersen, already in the clubhouse and hoping for a play-off.
Ochoa shot a 71 to tie for 14th at one-under while Sorenstam, who opened with a disastrous 77, closed with a 72 and a share of 25th at two-over.
"I do feel very good about my game, but I know the score doesn't reflect that and that's the bottom line in golf," Sorenstam said.
Sorenstam, who has won 72 times on the LPGA Tour, was making her penultimate competitive appearance in the United States before leaving the tour at the end of the year.
She will make her final US appearance at next month's ADT Championship.
Collated final round scores & totals in the LPGA Tour Kapalua LPGA Classic, Kapalua Plantation GC, Maui, Hawaii, United States of America
(USA unless stated, par 72):
280 Morgan Pressel 72 72 67 69
281 Suzann Pettersen (Nor) 68 72 72 69
282 Laura Diaz 70 71 71 70
284 Sun Young Yoo (Kor) 70 71 71 72, Angela Stanford 71 73 70 70
285 Carin Koch (Swe) 72 71 68 74, Stacy Lewis 73 73 73 66
286 Jee Young Lee (Kor) 71 70 70 75, Heather Young 72 74 67 73, Linda Wessberg (Swe) 76 71 68 71, Meena Lee (Kor) 73 72 70 71, Cristie Kerr 71 72 70 73, Brittany Lang 69 71 71 75
287 Lorena Ochoa (Mex) 74 69 73 71, Maria Hjorth (Swe) 73 74 69 71
288 Young-A Yang (Kor) 73 71 70 74, Becky Morgan (Wal) 72 71 72 73, Sarah Jane Kenyon 72 74 71 71, Michele Redman 72 74 73 69, Allison Fouch 72 73 74 69, Katherine Hull (Aus) 73 73 72 70
289 Ji-Young Oh (Kor) 70 71 76 72, Alena Sharp (Can) 74 67 72 76, Helen Alfredsson (Swe) 72 71 72 74
290 Laura Davies (Eng) 76 71 67 76, Jamie Hullett 72 72 73 73, Eun Hee Ji (Kor) 73 71 73 73, Annika Sorenstam (Swe) 77 70 71 72, Wendy Ward 73 71 73 73, Anna Rawson (Aus) 70 75 71 74, Seon Hwa Lee (Kor) 73 69 72 76, Rachel Hetherington (Aus) 77 71 68 74, Momoko Ueda (Jpn) 73 73 71 73, Janice Moodie (Sco) 74 72 68 76
291 Karrie Webb (Aus) 75 71 75 70, Sophie Giquel (Fra) 74 71 75 71, Carri Wood 73 74 72 72, Na Ri Kim (Kor) 74 69 76 72, A.J Eathorne (Can) 73 73 72 73
292 Ai Miyazato (Jpn) 74 74 71 73, Il Mi Chung (Kor) 73 68 71 80, Heather Daly-Donofrio 72 72 74 74
293 Virada Nirapathpongporn (Tha) 72 76 72 73, Louise Friberg (Swe) 73 74 73 73, Juli Inkster 72 72 75 74, Moira Dunn 74 69 76 74, Candie Kung (Tai) 72 70 76 75
294 Ya-Ni Tseng (Kor) 72 74 73 75, Jane Park 74 72 72 76, Sophie Gustafson (Swe) 71 74 76 73
295 Teresa Lu (Tai) 73 75 76 71, Gloria Park (Kor) 75 72 75 73, Diana D'Alessio 73 74 74 74, Kristy McPherson 70 76 74 75, Karine Icher (Fra) 74 72 76 73
296 Johanna Head (Eng) 71 76 74 75, Na On Min (Jpn) 72 76 73 75, Charlotte Mayorkas 72 75 77 72, Katie Futcher 71 77 72 76, Kris Tamulis 74 74 74 74
297 Beth Bader 76 70 77 74, Brandie Burton 70 76 74 77, Tracy Hanson 69 74 78 76
298 Sherri Turner 72 76 78 72, Amy Hung (Tha) 74 72 77 75, Christina Kim 73 74 76 75
299 Karin Sjodin (Swe) 71 75 74 79
300 Aree Song (Kor) 76 72 77 75
302 Jackie Gallagher-Smith 72 75 77 78
304 Lee Ann Walker-Cooper 76 71 77 80
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