Giuliani son sues to get back on golf team

DURHAM, N.C., July 24 (UPI) -- Andrew Giuliani, son of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, has filed a lawsuit seeking reinstatement to the Duke University golf team.

Giuliani claims that he was thrown off the team and deemed ineligible for any athletic participation at Duke without any warning and with no chance to defend himself, Newsday reports. The suit was filed Wednesday in federal court in North Carolina.

Rod Myers, Duke's longtime golf coach, recruited Giuliani, now a senior who hopes to become a professional golfer. But Myers has died and O.D. Vincent became coach last year.

The lawsuit claims that Giuliani was kicked off the team in February because Vincent wanted to reduce its size. He allegedly drove too fast out of the parking lot on one occasion, threw a putter a few feet and leaned on a driver, breaking it, incidents the suit claim were "fabricated' or blown out of proportion.

Giuliani has received support from former coaches and others, including his mother, TV personality Donna Hanover, who called his expulsion from the team "heartbreaking."