Scott McCarron doesn’t have to write to tournament directors or sponsors, asking for exemptions in the veteran member category to get into PGA Tour events any more.

His second-place finish in last week’s Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., took care of that.

“I’ve got a job for next year,” said McCarron, a Vintage High School graduate and former Napa resident.

Shooting rounds of 65, 64, 64 and 68 for a 19-under-par 261 total, McCarron posted his sixth career runner-up finish and first since the 2005 FBR Open. He earned $550,800, capping his biggest week of the year and solidifying his 2009 Tour status. He had the lead briefly in the final round.

His last victory came at the 2001 BellSouth Classic. The three-time PGA Tour winner has now finished in the top five in two of his last three starts, as he tied for fifth at the RBC Canadian Open. He also moves to No. 77 on the FedExCup points list.

“Again, second place is obviously tough to swallow right now but I’ll probably be pretty (happy) here when I realize I’ve got a job for the rest of the year,” said McCarron. “That was my goal coming back from my rehab and I’ve now done that, so that feels really good to be able to accomplish.”

McCarron wasn’t able to play golf last year because of surgery he had in August 2006 to reattach the radialis brevis tendon on his right elbow. He was granted a major medical extension carryover. He missed 18 months of competition and was playing out of the veteran’s category earlier this year.

“I don’t recommend that. It’s not a lot of fun,” said McCarron, who grew up at Silverado Resort. “It’s a year, year and a half process to heal. It was a long, long rehab. Many times I wasn’t sure if I could continue doing this because you never know when you have an injury like that if you can make it back, especially to play at this level. My goals the whole time were to be able to play without pain and I’ve been able to accomplish that just through a lot of hard work and really letting it heal, too.

“During that time when I wasn’t supposed to hit balls, I didn’t push it. I really sat there and didn’t chip, didn’t putt, didn’t do anything ... just let this thing heal. But there were certainly times on my comeback, even this year at the start of the year, that I thought I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make it back in time.

“But you know, I’m a pretty positive guy and I don’t let things like that kind of get me down. I feel like I’m a hundred percent healed.”

Last week represented the last of 37 regular season events on the 2008 schedule, with the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedExCup beginning this week at The Barclays. The top 144 players on the FedExCup points list on Sunday qualified for the playoffs, with five golfers playing their way in at the Wyndham Championship.

McCarron is 77th among qualifiers for The Barclays, the FedEx Cup playoff opener that begins Thursday at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J. For the year, he has won $921,557.

Late last month, he fired a final round 71 to tie for fifth at the Canadian Open. McCarron was 12-under-par for tournament at the Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ontario and won $182,500. It was his first Top-5 finish of the year.

“I started playing well right around Dallas actually. I put myself in position there,” he said. “I feel pretty good about my game right now. I’m doing a lot of things well. I’m driving the ball well in the fairway. I’m hitting a lot of good iron shots, making some putts.”

McCarron has missed 10 cuts this year. But he was 13th at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship and 27th at the Travelers Championship.

He said things started to click during a session he had with his coach, Jim Hardy, on the driving range in Dallas.

“I’ve been kind of a feel player and always felt like my game would come back,” he said. “I really took it upon myself to learn more about what I was doing and what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong and to fix those things. We kind of hammered it out on the driving range in Dallas and I hit the ball beautifully all week in Dallas. Ever since, I’ve really hit the ball well.

“I haven’t put the scores together all the time but I’ve had a couple of really good finishes. That had a lot to do with it and the fact that once I started swinging well, started believing in myself again playing with a lot of confidence. I’ve been working really hard on the mental part of the game as well as the physical. It’s just all starting to click.”

McCarron and his family are in the process of moving from Reno to a new home in the Palm Springs area. The weather is more conducive to playing year-round.

“I can’t practice and play in Reno during the winters with snow on the ground for five months. I’ve got to thank my family for believing in me after coming back after this injury. I think selling the house and moving down to Palm Springs kind of gave me some freedom and piece of mind that I was in this for the long haul. A lot has to do with my family making that decision.”