It turns out Ryan Longwell's attempt to qualify for the U.S. Open wasn't made just because he thought it would be fun to test his golf skills.

Rather, Longwell said he made the decision after receiving a good news, bad news phone call from the Vikings in early March. While the team informed Longwell it would pay him a $500,000 bonus to retain his services for 2010, it also was relayed to him that the Vikings planned to pursue kickoff specialist Rhys Lloyd.

If you've read today's story on Longwell in the Star Tribune you know he isn't very happy that he no longer is going to be kicking off and now will be exclusively used field-goal and point-after-touchdown attempts. But the Vikings decision to go after Lloyd didn't just raise Longwell's ire a bit, it also caused the 14-year veteran to consider life after football.

"When they called and said they were going to make a run at Rhys, that's kind of what got me spurred on to do the U.S. Open thing," said Longwell, who lives in the Isleworth golf community in Windermere, Fla. "Kind of do that and look a little more toward the future when this game is long gone."

Longwell, who would like to try his hand at pro golf when his career is finished, said his wife, Sarah, also encouraged him to devote more time to the sport and trying to qualify for the Open.

"I had talked to Sarah about it for years about, 'Let's go do this,'" he said. "It just kind of was one of those things where I knew the time commitment was going to be doing something that I didn't want to do, and I got that call and talked to Sarah about it and she says, 'Well, why don't we do this?' Go ahead and practice and do this and try to make a run at it and just kind of set yourself up for when it's all said and done, whether it's today, tomorrow or 10 years from now, you just don't know in this business." Longwell failed to advance from a local qualifier at MetroWest Golf Club in Orlando, shooting an 11-over-par 83. The highest score to advance was a 69. Entering the final season of his contract, Longwell doesn't know where he might be playing football in 2011. He does know, however, that he will make another run at the Open. He is friends with professional golfer Charles Howell III and has talked to him about the proper approach on the course. Vikings coach Brad Childress said Longwell's decision to look toward the future is a good one. "I think it is again with merit," Childress said. "He's not going to do this forever. Somewhere he is going to get on the PGA Tour and get on the Hooters circuit down there, or the Nike tour, I guess I could have said that to be proper. Ryan is a guy that went to Cal and will have a plan after football. I trust he has done well with what he has. He will move onto his life's work, whether his life's work is raising his kids and being around all the time or on the golf circuit. He will be successful in whatever he does."