What was I supposed to do?

Hunter Mahan, Corey Pavin, Tiger Woods and everyone in Philadelphia, where the World Bridge Championships are taking place, has been trying to pin the blame for Europe's victory in the Ryder Cup on something or someone. But the truth is this: the continent that wins the Buffett Cup at bridge has invariably gone on to lose the Ryder Cup at golf, so there is a sense in which it was all my fault for I contributed to the USA's win in the Buffett Cup. I ask you, though: could I have done differently with these South cards? Game all, dealer West: This was the bidding (1) A weak two bid, showing a decent six-card diamond suit and around 6-10 points. (2) I could have bid two hearts, but my hand was so bad that given East's silence, my partner's hand was clearly very good. I hoped to bid spades first and hearts second while showing a terrible hand. (3) Well, maybe not such a terrible hand. The captains of the Buffett Cup teams are not equipped with buggies and radios . If they had been, though, Donna Compton (captain of the US team and World Mixed Pairs Champion as of yesterday) would have given me short shrift – "Did you have to bid four spades with that wretched hand?" Indeed, what with a diamond trick and a spade trick and a club trick that had to be conceded to the defence, and with the 5-0 break in trumps, making four spades seemed a hopeless task. But bridge is a strange game – if the trumps had been "more favourably" divided so that West had a singleton in the suit instead of a void, he could have beaten me by leading his trump. As it was, he cashed a diamond and switched to a heart, but I could win that with the king in my hand and lose a club finesse to East. In the fullness of time, I could cash two clubs and two hearts, ruff three diamonds in my hand (it would not help East to ruff in with the king of spades at any point) and make three trump tricks in dummy after giving East his king of spades. Sorry Corey, sorry American golfers everywhere – but what was I supposed to do?