A Giuliani sues Duke University over golf

Andrew Giuliani, who sometimes hasn't really been talking with his father, Rudy Giuliani, now isn't talking to Duke University, where he's been kicked off the varsity golf team.

The career goal of Andrew, the 22-year-old only son of the former mayor and his former wife, Donna Hanover, is to walk a lot while repeatedly hitting a little white ball into holes in the ground as a pro.

But according to our about-to-be-former colleagues over at Newsday, Andrew's slipped into the rough and is now suing Duke, alleging "unfounded accusations" and "a bizarre 'Lord of the Flies' scheme."

It's a familiar story in college athletics: Athlete gets recruited by one coach, who moves on or, in this case, dies, and the replacement doesn't have the same regard for the kid left behind.

According to the suit, Andrew, who will be a senior this year, was kicked off the team in February by new coach O.D. Vincent, late of UCLA. Andrew claims the reasons given were bogus, including breaking a driver, flipping a golf club toward his bag one day and speeding out of the school parking lot. The suit claims they were "fabricated and an insufficient excuse" for booting him.

When he confronted the coach, Andrew's suit says, Vincent said he'd allow the ex-mayor's son to return if all 12 of the other team members wrote the coach adequate letters appealing for Andrew's reinstatement.

A university spokesman declined to comment until officials had received and read a copy of the suit (available here--hat tip Wall Street Journal Law Blog).

Andrew does not seek team reinstatement but unspecified monetary damages and restoration of training privileges. As for his father, Andrew told Newsday, "I love my father very much. I just decided not to ask him to get involved in this situation."

-- Andrew Malcolm

Photo credit: Diana Bondareff / Associated Press