The 33-year-old, who hails from Clovis, New Mexico, is on his second visit to the Lakes District, having played in the Michael Hill New Zealand Open in March last year.
And he is delighted to be back, and not just because he sits one off the leader, New Zealand's David Smail, after yesterday's opening round at The Hills.
"I think Queenstown is the prettiest place I've ever seen. I've seen nothing to compare to it in the USA," he told a press conference after shooting a six-under 66 yesterday.
"I've posted all my photographs on my Facebook page already and everyone is going: `Man, what a beautiful place'," he said.
Another clue to Brigman's fondness for Queenstown lies in his PGA profile, in which he lists extreme sports and bungy jumping as his special interests, a passion he puts in practice as part of an unorthodox preparation for golf tournaments.
Last year he preceded his debut at The Hills with several bungy jumps the day before the tournament and he failed to make the cut after two days by only one shot, despite finishing on even par.
This year he has tried a different adrenaline-pumper - hang-gliding - to "try and get the fear out" before yesterday's opening round.
This time it's worked, well, so far anyway, shooting a 6-under 66 to be just one stroke off the lead, held by New Zealander David Smail, American Robert Gates and Australian Andrew Dodt.
Brigman said playing in the morning alongside Smail, who led for most of the day, helped his own momentum, especially on the 18th hole (his ninth) when he salvaged an unlikely par 4 after blasting out from the cavernous bunker that guards the green.
If he had missed that putt, he said, he could have given the round away.
But instead he birdied the next three holes to get on a roll at 4 under, then gaining fresh impetus when he played a glorious approach across the pond on the sixth to hole a short putt for birdie 3, then followed up by draining a monster 13m putt on the seventh for his seventh birdie of the day.
Brigman (33), who turned professional 11 years ago, has notched one career win so far and earned more than $US1.5 million.
Smail gave a huge boost to local fans hoping for an overdue New Zealand win in the Open when he posted an immaculate 7-under 65 yesterday.
The 2001 Open winner at The Grange never dropped a shot yesterday after an early start, scoring birdies at his first two holes (he started at the par 10th) and adding others at 14, 15, the par 5 17th, and then two more on his back nine, at 4 and 5.
Smail, who had not seemed very enthusiastic about his chances at a press conference earlier in the week, citing a lack of recent practice or tournament play, said he was "really happy" with how he played, but felt he was still not 100% on his game.
Smail was unchallenged at the top of the leaderboard most of the afternoon, which was curious given yesterday's near-perfect weather conditions, but late in the day Gates and Dodt went on a birdie spree over the closing holes to join Smail in the lead.
Gates (24), who started with an eagle 3 on the first and a birdie on the third, hit high gear at the challenging par 3 16th when he hit his iron to 15cm for a tap-in 2, then birdied 17 and the 18th, the latter the result of a sweeping 10m putt.
"I had a lot of fun out there," he said, "although I felt I let a lot of opportunities go."
Then it was the turn of Queenslander Dodt (24) to go on a scoring rampage with birdies over the last four holes, recovering from the disappointment of a bogey on the par 5 13th.
"It all combined pretty well out there today; I had a lot of chances . . . I played really well," he said.
Some of the pre-tournament favourites had a mixed day.
American Jason Gore caught the eye though with a 2-under 70, recovering brilliantly with a string of birdies after being 4 over midway through his round.
Australian Stephen Leaney, back from the PGA Tour, looked ominous midway through his round when 4 under but Peter Lonard (71) played with countryman Craig Parry (72) and the Australian pair never really got on a roll and were outscored by Peter O'Malley (70) while Mark Hensby shot a 71.
Other New Zealanders, apart from Smail, to post sub-par rounds were Phil Tataurangi and Josh Geary (3-under 69) to lie equal 22nd; Steve Alker and Grant Waite (70), Mahal Pearce, Doug Batty and Brad Iles (71) while the amateur Peter Spearman-Burn did well to score an even par 72.
