MERRILLVILLE, Ind. – Sean Swanson was out of his comfort zone as an exempt bowler on the Denny’s Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour in 2007-08. Now that he’s back in his element, Swanson is back to his winning ways.

Swanson defeated Gregg Zicha, 247-154, Monday to win the 2008 PBA Lake County Indiana Regional Players Championship at Stardust Bowl II, his first career PBA Regional Tour Major title.

After winning the 2006-07 PBA Southwest Region, Swanson earned his first career PBA Tour exemption, but being away from home for most of six months saw him drop to 53rd in the PBA World Point Rankings knocking him out of the running for a 2008-09 exemption.

“The Tour just wasn’t for me,” Swanson (Springfield, Mo.) said. “I’d rather be gone 2-3 days a week than weeks at a time.”

A regional bowler at heart, Swanson showed where his comfort level was this weekend, dominating his opponents on Monday. He capped it off with an easy win against Zicha.

Swanson won his first four matches by a combined 10-2 match score. He then took down the No. 2 seed John Gould (Richmond, Calif.), 223-167, in the semifinals before squaring off against Zicha.

The title match was never in doubt as Zicha (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) opened in the third and fourth frames and Swanson ran away with the match by striking in the first five frames and in seven of the first nine, clinching the victory with a strike in the ninth frame.

“The last two matches today I was lucky to get off to a good start in each,” Swanson said. “The lanes were really difficult today and when the lanes are tough, if you get out to a good start with a couple strikes your opponents start squeezing it a little bit and that leads to some splits.”

The victory was the 15th PBA Regional Tour title of Swanson’s career, but his first Major. He earned $9,000 for the victory along with a spot in the prestigious 2008-09 PBA Tournament of Champions as well as a berth in the 2008 PBA Regional Players Invitational.

Zicha took home $5,000 for second while Gould and Craig Tuholski (Washougal, Wash.) earned $2,800 for third and fourth.

Stardust Bowl II hosts the Denny’s PBA Tour Trials later this week where nearly 100 bowlers will battle it out for the final seven exemptions for the 2008-09 PBA Tour. Competition starts Wednesday with the first of five nine-game qualifying blocks. The seven bowlers with the highest 45-game pinfall after five days will receive one-season exemptions.