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Barcelona's Lionel Messi broke the European club scoring record with a hat trick on Wednesday that increased his season total to 68 goals.

Messi got his ninth hat trick of the season in Barcelona's 4-1 win over Malaga, breaking the mark of 67 goals that Gerd Mueller scored for Bayern Munich in 1972-73.

But Real Madrid clinched its 32d Spanish league title and first in four years with a 3-0 win at Athletic Bilbao. Madrid (30-2-4) has 94 points and a seven-point lead over Barcelona (27-3-6) with two games left.

The Catalans had won the previous three titles.

Already the oldest player to appear for Aston Villa, American goalkeeper Brad Friedel set the Tottenham record at 40 years, 350 days. The previous age record for the north London club was set by Jimmy Cantrell, who was a day younger than Friedel when he made his final appearance in 1923.

GOLF: Mike Boss, executive director of the USGA, said the 2017 U.S. Women's Open will be played at Trump National in Bedminster, N.J..

Scotland's Paul Lawrie, the 1999 British Open champion, said he will skip the U.S. Open this June, citing his poor performances in the major championship.

FOOTBALL: Five Rutgers football players recently signed NFL free-agent contracts, including defensive lineman Eric LeGrand, who was signed by Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano. During his junior season, LeGrand suffered fractures of two vertebrae and a serious spinal cord injury. While LeGrand cannot play, Schiano, the former Rutgers coach, said he deserved to be signed by an NFL team. His role with the Buccaneers is to be determined.

TENNIS: Veteran Tommy Haas defeated top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-1, 6-4, to reach the quarterfinals of the BMW Open in Stuttgart, Germany.

COLLEGES: North Carolina hired former Tar Heels guard and NBA veteran Hubert Davis as an assistant men's basketball coach. Davis was a first-round draft pick in 1992 and played 12 years in the NBA. He spent the past seven years as a college basketball analyst on ESPN.

Former Miami football coach Randy Shannon is suing his alma mater, saying the university decided not to pay him all that he was guaranteed in his final contract. Shannon was fired in 2010, after going 28-22 in four seasons.

AUTO RACING: Heart surgery will prevent veteran actor Jim Nabors from performing "Back Home Again in Indiana" at this year's Indianapolis 500, an Indianapolis Motor Speedway spokesman said.

A Speedway video crew will record Nabors singing the song in Hawaii next week for playback during the pre-race festivities. The race is scheduled for May 27.

- Staff and wire reports

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