As we wrote about in today's Star Tribune, Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell will begin his efforts to qualify for the U.S. Open starting Monday at a course near his home in Windermere, Fla. Here is a portion of the question-and-answer session we had with the avid golfer on the topic.

Q. How much have you found that golf and kicking are the same?

A. "It's so similar it's scary. I feel that one of my advantages is knowing how to react under pressure, knowing how your body feels when you have nerves going and how to swing your leg kicking or swing a golf club when you feel that way. I know a lot of the tour guys that I play with here at Isleworth that's kind of how I can hang with them. Mentally, I understand what it's like to stand on a tee with everybody looking. It's just from kicking a football under pressure for so many years. I feel that's one of the advantages where I can keep a round going if I'm not hitting it as well. Just knowing that you've got to make the next one, you've got to hit the next shot."

Q. Is golf something you would like to turn into a second career once football is done? A. "I would say it's kind of 50-50 right now. The one thing that I've always been curious about, and I've said this a lot, is that unfortunately with my career being in Green Bay and Minnesota I've never had the opportunity to play [golf] year- round. So the first couple of months of every offseason for me are kind of re-learning chipping and putting and your feel and touch and stuff that if you could play golf year-round you wouldn't necessarily lose. I've always been curious after my career is over what I could do if I gave it two or three years year-round of playing. I know how good I get hitting the ball coming into July and then I kind of shut it down. But if I could do that and just keep going through the fall and winter and keep working at it, it is something that I've thought about and wanted to do. To be honest a couple of the PGA Tour guys here have kind of suggested that I should try it because I hit the ball well enough it's just that I don't have enough time to do it year-round. It's certainly not something that would take the place of football until I'm done kicking, but with their kind of blessing and how I've seen my game improve, it is something that I might want to think about giving a shot." Q. As you prepare to try to qualify do you work with somebody or do you work alone? A. "I work by myself. I don't have a kicking coach and I know that approach has worked well for me. I know there's a lot more intricacies in the golf swing than kicking field goals but I've kind of taken that same approach. I'm a pretty simple feel guy and I have had questions that I've asked some of the pros at Isleworth. I've asked them tips and stuff and how they approach stuff. So I've taken that and just really kind of tightened up the swing, shortened the swing and understand the key of how important the short game is. Chipping and putting. That's the approach I've taken and there's enough guys around here that have seen me play enough that if something gets out of whack with my swing I can ask them pretty quick and they can see what it is." Q. I have to ask. I know you live in Isleworth not far from Tiger Woods and last year you talked about how crazy it got in that community when all of the issues with Woods began to surface. Has it calmed down? A. "It's quieted down a little bit but it's still definitely prevalent. It's around, I'll just say that. We don't have several paparazzi, we have a couple of guys that are kind of stationed here. It's just one of those things that people know when he's in town and when he's around."