LPGA Tour's season continues on somber note

You probably remember him as the little kid stealing the scene at his father’s inauguration speech after being elected mayor of new York City.

Andrew Giuliani has done a lot of growing up in the past 15 years, though.

Winner of last year’s Met Open, a new York-based tournament for pros and top amateurs, Giuliani is now competing on the mini-tours with an eye toward reaching the PGA Tour through Q-school.

He recently sat down on the ESPN.com Hot Seat to discuss the journey.

Q: Has it been difficult to shed the image of being the little kid behind your dad at a news conference in exchange for one as a serious competitive golfer?
A: I don’t know if I’ve really tried to shed it. All I’ve really tried to do is just continually work on my craft and become better at it. That’s part of my past and part of who I am, so I certainly don’t try to shy away from it.

As a 7-year-old who was pretty rambunctious, especially considering it got on the best of Chris Farley’s stuff, it’s tough to shed that, so I’m just trying to work hard, get better and make it to the show. Hopefully, if we’re at the show, then maybe one day people will think of me as a major champion rather than something like that.

Q: Since you brought it up, do you ever go back and watch those Chris Farley sketches?
A: Absolutely. I think he’s one of the best comedians of all time. I think most people think that. I really wish I would have had the opportunity to meet him before he passed away, because he was just a genius and could make everybody laugh.

Q: Tell me about the circumstances under which you left Duke University. Looking back, what are your feelings about what happened?
A: Well, I made a lot of very good friends there. obviously, the way we left the golf team, it was bittersweet, because the first couple of years were amazing.

The head coach, Rod Myers, was just an amazing guy. He was there for 34 years. And, you know, it just didn’t end the way that we would have wanted it to. but without some of the stuff, I wouldn’t have been able to turn pro early and I might not have been a professional for the Met Open, so there were some good things that turned out from it, too.

It definitely made me tougher and made me focus on what my goals were. it really made me understand what I wanted to do with my life.

Q: For those who don’t know the story, what happened?
A: Well, a lot of that stuff is in the court documents, so I really don’t want to go over it again. but the head coach, Rod Myers, was out there for about two years when I was there. He was the one who recruited me and just a great guy. He was there for 34 years.

Unfortunately, he passed away from leukemia my sophomore year and we got a new head coach [O.D. Vincent]. To say the least, we didn’t see eye to eye. I played pretty well my junior year, but some actions were taken against me and the rest is in the court documents.

(Editor’s Note: Giuliani sued the school for breach of contract after being kicked off the team, but the case was later dismissed in court.)

Q: You were depicted on “The big Break” as having sort of a me-against-them mentality. How much of that was creative editing and how much of that was your attitude?
A: Well, I’ll tell you what. The two questions I’ve been asked most about the show are: 1. are those guys really like that? and 2. did you have a plan against them?

And honestly, I didn’t. I was just playing my game out there, doing what I was doing. I think when you’ve got 12 guys out there together for two weeks and you’re up 22 hours a day, you kind of get at each other’s throats. I didn’t get along with a couple of the guys, but there wasn’t anybody who got along with everybody.

I became really good friends with a bunch of the other guys on the show. Sean [Kalin], who’s from Florida, I’ve stayed at his place a bunch of times this year. been very lucky to meet a lot of really good people from that show and look forward to working with the Golf Channel in the future.

Q: How much did winning last year’s Met Open mean for your career?
A: It was awesome. obviously, your first professional victory you’re going to treasure no matter what, but to win it at Ridgewood, only five minutes from where I went to high school, with my family and friends out there, it was incredible.

And then when you think of the history of the Met Open and you see Walter Hagen’s name on there and Gene Sarazen and Byron Nelson — just tons of Hall of Famers that are on the trophy — it really is special. I love going back and just looking at the names on that trophy, because you realize that you’re part of elite company. It’s pretty cool.

Q: What are you doing now? Where are you playing? what are your plans?
A: I’ve been down in Florida working very hard on my game, making a bit of a swing change, trying to get a little better. I’m trying to hit the ball a little higher and longer and get my game suited for the tour.

This summer we’re going to do a lot of Monday qualifying and really get ready for Q-school. last year, I was 2 shots away from getting through second stage, so that was a little difficult to swallow, but it just shows how close you really are. so just going to continue to try to get better and bridge that gap.

Q: Monday qualifying for PGA Tour or Nationwide events?
A: I’ll do both.

Q: And are you playing on any of the mini-tours right now?
A: Yeah, played on the Florida Pro Golf Tour, playing a few Egolf Tour events, a few Hooters Tour events. so I’m really not limiting myself to one tour or another. And up [in the new York area] I’ll play the Met Open again, State Open, Westchester Open, maybe a few of the Northern Opens up in Maine and Vermont.

Between those, that will pretty much fill up the schedule. should be pretty busy.

Q: For the people out there who aren’t die-hard golf fans and don’t understand how the whole process works and just think that you turn pro, join the PGA Tour and make millions of dollars right away, can you talk about how difficult it is to come up through the ranks and try to make a living being a professional golfer?
A: Yeah, I think I really relate it a lot to baseball. You look at baseball, a lot of times people focus on prospects and think it’s a little two-year track to get into the majors when the reality of it is maybe 98, 99 percent of the people who turn professional in baseball never make it to the show — and if they do, it’s for a quick stint.

You realize that when you get out on the mini-tours. You see your lifers out there, you see guys who are giving it a year or two and that’s it. You need to stay focused and continue to focus on your plan in terms of how you’re going to continually get better.

I mean, I love looking at guys like Tom Lehman, who didn’t reach his peak until his late 30s, early 40s. Or Olin Browne, guys like that who focus on continually working hard and trying to get better and find ways to really improve. when you get the best player in the history of the game, Tiger [Woods] talking about continually getting better and improving, you realize that’s what this game is all about.

Q: Is there a long-term plan? if you’re still kicking around on mini-tours and Monday qualifiers five or 10 years from now, at what point do you say, “It’s not for me”?
A: I really haven’t looked at it like that. a lot of people have asked what my backup plan is. I don’t have any intention to fail, so my plan is to make the PGA Tour and win out there. if that situation does come up — and hopefully it doesn’t — we’ll analyze it when it does.

But right now, my plan is to make the PGA Tour and win out there and win major championships.

LPGA Tour's season continues on somber note


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