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By Melanie Hauser
PGATOUR.com Contributor

HARRISON, N.Y. -- The turning point came two months ago in Germany.

Ernie Els had quite simply had enough. It couldn't get any worse than it was.

Ernie Els is playing better after giving himself a talking-to. (Nick Laham/WireImage)

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

ELS THRU 18 HOLES

Category Total Rank Eagles 2 1 Birdies 3 T62 Pars 12 T37 Bogeys 1 T105 Double Bogeys 0 N/A Other 0 N/A Driving Accuracy 71.4% T84 Driving Distance 282.5 yds. 15 Greens in Regulation 83.3% T7 Putts per Round 28.0 T33 Putts per GIR 1.600 T20 Sand Saves 100.0% T1

• Ernie Els' Player Page

Yes, he had won earlier in the year in South Africa. Collected a bunch of top 10s overseas, too. But missing the cut at the Masters? And a closing 78 at the U.S. Open? A tournament he's won twice? Sheesh.

So he had a little chat.

With himself.

Just what he said, we may never know. But whatever expletives he used, whatever soul searching he did, the moment did the job.

Els finished seventh at that week's BMW International Open, followed it with a third at the Scottish Open then a tie for fourth at the Open Championship at Carnoustie. Then he chased that -- and Tiger Woods -- with a third at the PGA Championship. Take away three shots in that final round at Southern Hills and...

Then Thursday he birdied the final hole to open the FedExCup run with a 6-under-par 65 at The Barclays to settle in two shots back of Rory Sabbatini.

The interesting twist? No, Sabbo didn't want a piece of him (See Tiger Woods). But his brother Gary did play against Els and Sabbo remembers when he first met soon-to-be Big Easy.

"The funniest thing is Ernie doesn't remember, but maybe it's just the South African thing but I met him for the first time when he was 18,'' Sabbatini said. "I went up to him and introduced myself and he goes, 'Now you can tell everybody else you met Ernie.' ''

Almost two decades later, the personalities are slightly reversed. But not the roles.

Els is fourth in the world with a bullet and playing at Westchester Country Club, site of his back-to-back wins in 1996 and 1997. That second win, which backed up a U.S. Open title, shot him to No. 1 in the world for the first time. For a week.

Thursday, he saw low scores from the morning rounds, knew the course was soft and took advantage of it. Two eagles, one birdie and a bogey on the front and he was chasing the leaders at 4-under through nine holes. Then, he was so relaxed that when play was stacked up at the 10th, he ran into the clubhouse for a spot of lunch. All the food was gone.

"The lady was helpful, went back in the kitchen and got me a nice sandwich,'' he said, "and I was ready to go again.''

He book-ended seven pars with birdies at the 10th and 18th and walked off the course in great shape.

"I really played solid on the back, but my approach shots, I didn't get it close enough to the holes and when I did you know, I kind of misread some of the putts,'' he said. "You know, I was fortunate enough to make birdie on 18. So, there you go, 6 under, and you know, not bad for the first round.''

And he's just now feeling like his game is at a point where he can really start scoring?

It wasn't that long ago Els was second in the world with three majors in hand and, it seemed, more on the way. But that was before a knee injury on his boat, an equipment change to Callaway and a caddie change got in the way. Those and the swing have all fallen nicely into place and that talk -- and the recent major finishes -- may have done the rest.

"I think it's all about results, isn't it?" he said. "You know, sometimes you don't even hit the ball really well from tee to green, but you find a way of scoring and that's confidence. And I think that's the way, if I can bring Tiger into this conversation, again, that's how he plays a lot of times. He's not always on his game but he's so confident that he's going to get scoring. He's going to get to a score at the end of the day.''

Which he did at Southern Hills. Els missed two putts and was wild off the tee at 16. Take those back and he's pushing Tiger to the limit.

"I think my confidence level is a bit low,'' Els said. "Even though, as I said to you guys so many times walking off with a sour face going, well, I'm not playing badly; but I'm not scoring. And I think that's all to do with how your confidence level is. You know, if it was zero to 10, maybe I was at a five most of the year and now it's climbing up to maybe a seven.

"You know, as the scores start coming, as the results start coming, the more confidence you get. The easier you can start scoring, you don't feel so tense out there and you can feel more free.''

Els seems at ease this week. He's on a course he knows. He's swinging well, thinking well. In great shape for 37. And, ranking 19th on the FedExCup, he's one of the players close enough to the leaders that a win and a couple of other good finishes could push him way up the ladder.

But he's not really thinking about that. He's playing the course.

"I mean, there's been so much talk about it, so you can't help but know that something different is going on,'' he said. "But you know, for one, the purse for the next four events, the purses are so big that you want to play in events coming up. It's not like we're going for 10 million in cash. Big difference.

"We've got to wait for this cash until you're 65, big difference.''

Yet, he's still eyeing that, four weeks of $7 million purses -- and a springboard into 2008.

For another go at the majors. And Tiger.

And another shot to be No. 1.