He Learned Where the Breaking Point Was

Retief Goosen, who won the German Masters by one stroke over the weekend, is known as one of the most laid-back players on the PGA Tour. But he wasn’t always that way.

“I was a pretty bad-tempered boy,” the two-time U.S. Open champion told Associated Press. “I remember once breaking three clubs in nine holes. I had to pay for the shafts with my pocket money, so I learned not to break them anymore. I just threw them.”

Trivia time: Mark Calcavecchia won the Canadian Open on Sunday. Who finished second in the Canadian Open seven times but never won it?

Blinding speed: Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times found a report by the South African news agency SAPA about Hein Wagner, 33, of Cape Town setting the world land speed record by a blind driver.

Aided by a sighted navigator, Wagner drove 167 mph on a remote South African airstrip to shatter the old record by 22 mph.

“I drove it with no insurance,” Wagner told SAPA. “No one wanted to give us any.”

Nothing but net: A charity basketball game, put on by TNT analyst Kenny Smith on Sunday night in Houston, featured some of the biggest names in the NBA and drew a crowd of 11,416.

Each player donated a minimum of $10,000, and the game raised more than $1 million for Hurricane Katrina relief. Some players who didn’t participate also donated.

“Elton Brand called me from China,” Smith said. “He read about [the game] on the Internet. ... He wanted to donate.”

Sir Charles weighs in: Said Charles Barkley of the relief effort as a whole: “You know what’s amazing to me? America. There have been so many people who have stepped up, and I’m proud to be an American.

“Yeah, there were some mistakes made, but I don’t play the blame game. Let’s move forward and rebuild New Orleans.”

Streaking ‘trotters: It was noted in Monday’s Morning Briefing that the Harlem Globetrotters had won 8,829 consecutive games before losing to an all-star team led by 48-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Vienna on Sept. 12, 1995. What wasn’t noted was that the Globetrotters went on to win another 1,270 in a row before losing to Michigan State on Nov. 13, 2000.

Looking back: On this day in 1997, Cade McNown threw a school-record five touchdown passes as UCLA routed No. 11 Texas, 66-3. It was the worst loss for a ranked team and the second-worst for Texas. In 1904, the Longhorns lost to the University of Chicago, 68-0.

Trivia answer: Jack Nicklaus, who finished second in 1965, ‘68, ‘75, ‘76, ‘81, ’84 and ’85.

And finally: Danica Patrick, starting from the pole, finished sixth in an Indy Racing League race at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, her seventh top-10 finish in her rookie season. So are there any another female drivers out there to challenge her? Asked to name the best female driver no one has heard of, Patrick, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, said: “I don’t know. I’ve never heard of her.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.