By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

Australians and Texas seem to mix quite well. Case in point: Rod Pampling.

In 2008, Pampling tied for second at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Thursday, he shot a 5-under 65 to sit near the top of the leaderboard.

What is it about Colonial that seems to suit Pampling, who also lives in the area, so well?

“You got to think your way around,” Pampling said. “I get to play here a lot as well. I feel comfortable here. You get a pretty good read on the greens. It's another good week.”

That was evident from the 16 greens in regulation the Aussie hit.

“It's just a golf course you got to be smarter at,” Pampling said. “It doesn't take driver on every hole. You got to work your way around. We grew up playing these. It's not like the course where you get up and smash it.”

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

It’s early in the opening round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational but not surprisingly there are already plenty of low numbers on the board at Colonial, where Brendon de Jonge has the early advantage at 7 under through 15 holes.

Right behind him? David Toms, who appears to have bounced back from his playoff loss at THE PLAYERS Championship pretty quickly. He’s 6 under through 11 holes -- nine greens in regulation and just 14 putts so far in what looks pretty similar to what he did last week.

There are a couple of requisite Aussies high on the leaderboard in Rod Pampling (5 under through 14) and Adam Scott (4 under through 13). Australians always seem to play well in Texas -- be it the similar grasses to that of Australia or the wind -- and that seems to be the case at least in the early going again.

Anthony Kim is also off to a good start at 5 under through his first nine holes. Kim missed the cut last week, but he was striping his irons on the range.

The course record, by the way, is 61.

Click here for Live Scores

Rod Pampling’s back-to-back 67s have him currently tied for 10th on the leaderboard at TPC Deere Run. It’s been a tough 2010 for the Australian, missing seven cuts and finishing no better than T27 (Northern Trust Open, AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am).

Pampling has carded eight birdies and one eagle in his first two rounds in Illinois, missing only four greens in regulation in the process.

With 192 points, Pampling is currently 152nd in the FedExCup standings. He’s looking for his first TOUR win since 2006 at the Bay Hill Invitational presented by MasterCard. Since then, he's fallen from 31st in the Official World Golf Ranking to 198th.