DURHAM - Andrew Giuliani, son of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has sued Duke University, saying the school breached a $200,000 contract with him by kicking him off the golf team.

Giuliani, a rising senior at Duke, filed suit in federal court in Greensboro.

Duke University officials said in a statement that they would "vigorously defend this lawsuit."

"Duke's coaches and student athletes are held to the highest standards, which include a strong commitment to fairness for all participants in our sports programs," Michael J. Schoenfeld, Duke's vice president for public affairs and government relations, said in a statement.

The complaint, drawn up by Robert Ekstrand, a lawyer representing some of the members of the 2006 Duke lacrosse team, outlines strife between Giuliani and O.D. Vincent, the head golf coach. Vincent came on board after the spring 2007 death of Rod Myers, the coach who recruited Giuliani in high school.

As an aspiring pro golfer in high school, Giuliani was promised life-time access to Duke's state-of-the-art training facilities if he came to Duke and paid $200,000 in tuition and fees, the suit claims.

"Things changed when O.D. Vincent took over," the lawsuit says.

Upon taking over the team last summer, Vincent talked about making the 13-member team half its size.

On Feb. 11, 2008, the suit says, Vincent announced that Giuliani would not be on the team.

"Andrew and his teammates were shocked," the suit says. "Andrew had no prior notice of what was about to happen. At no time was Andrew ever given an opportunity to defend himself."

The suit goes on to claim that incidents of misconduct that Vincent cited in his reasons for expelling Giuliani were not appropriate reasons for expulsion. According to the suit:

-- On Feb. 2 Giuliani flipped his putter a few feet to his golf bag.

-- On Feb. 3, Giuliani leaned over his driver and it broke, and "in O.D. Vincent's telling, this became 'throwing and breaking' a club."

-- On Feb. 3, Giuliani walked ahead of his playing partner at Treyburn Golf Course and later that day "gunned the engine" of his car and "drove fast while leaving the golf course parking lot."

-- On Feb. 4, during a golf-team football game, "Andrew played harder than some of the other boys wanted to play."

-- On Feb. 10, while Giuliani was eating an apple, a teammate twice hit the golfer's hand and knocked the fruit to the ground. After that same teammate "slammed a door hitting Andrew's face," Giuliani "tossed the apple at a teammate, glancing off the side of his face."

The golf coach, according to the suit, "imposed a bizarre 'Lord of the Flies' scheme to determine whether Andrew's eligibility would be canceled permanently."

Giuliani claims in the suit that he is entitled to financial relief under the contract he entered with Duke when he agreed to come to the university.

In March 2007, Giuliani talked about his golf game in an internview with the New York Daily News. His handicap was a plus-2. He had a 1 handicap before heading to Duke.

"I'm just trying to work my hardest the last two and a half years here [at Duke] to hopefully one day be playing against Tiger [Woods]," he told the Daily News. "That's definitely the ultimate goal. I wouldn't mind seeing him in the final round of a major, that's for sure."

In 1994, Giuiliani stole center stage from his father during Rudy Giuliani's mayoral inauguration. The mayor's then-7-year-old son stood next to him at the podium mocking his dad's fist pumps, mouthing words and mugging for the crowd. The incident became a talk-show sensation and was immortalized in a "Saturday Night Live" sketch.