MEXICO CITY -- Rory McIlroy is no stranger to political controversy. Although he grew up in Northern Ireland mostly free of the strife known as "The Troubles," he is well aware of his country's difficult issues, and he got a firsthand taste of it when presented with a decision about whom to represent in the Olympics.
But McIlroy said all of that is nothing compared to the situation he found himself in after he recently played golf with President Donald Trump. McIlroy, 27, played with the president on Feb. 19 at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida -- and received a good bit of negative feedback for doing so.
"Yeah, I was a little taken aback," said McIlroy, who on Friday issued a statement on the matter and expanded on it Tuesday at Club de Golf Chapultepec, site of this week's WGC-Mexico Championship. "Obviously, we know how the [presidential] campaign went and how divisive it was.
"I just approached it as a round of golf, and putting anyone's beliefs or politics ... putting that to one side for a minute. To go there and see 30 Secret Service and 30 cops and snipers in the trees ... it was just a surreal experience for me to see something like that. That was part of the reason I wanted to go play.
"If it had been [Barack] Obama, I would have went to play. I've played golf with President Clinton, I've spent time with President Bush. ... I just wanted to have an experience that I might never get: play golf with a sitting president."
Because of a fractured rib, McIlroy hasn't played competitively since he lost in a playoff at the South African Open in January. He missed scheduled starts in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, the Genesis Open and the Honda Classic.
It was less than two weeks ago that the third-ranked golfer in the world and reigning FedEx Cup champion began hitting full shots again. The call from a Trump representative came on the night prior to their round, which turned out to be the first time McIlroy had played 18 holes since the injury. "I picked up a few times," he said. "We both did."
The criticism of McIlroy came despite past comments in which he hardly endorsed Trump.
A year ago, at this same tournament, which was then known as the WGC-Cadillac Championship and played at Trump International Doral near Miami, the club's owner was a presidential candidate.
"I really thought I knew what politics were until I started to watch some of these presidential debates," McIlroy said in March 2016. "I mean, not saying that the political system in Northern Ireland is too strong at the moment, either. ... Look, I can't vote [in the U.S.], and if I were to vote, I'm not sure I would want to vote for any of the candidates."
McIlroy said something similar Tuesday and tried to steer his motives back to the opportunity rather than anything political.
"It's not as if we were speaking foreign policy out there," said McIlroy, who rode in a cart with Trump. "We were talking about golf and the grass that he put on the greens and the grass that he's putting on the greens at Doral. We talked golf the entire day. I think he was happier to talk golf than anything else that he has to do these days."
McIlroy has had to navigate some difficult political issues at home. As a Catholic in a mostly Protestant area of Northern Ireland, he faced a chance for controversy in years gone by. "Where I'm from is a very divided place," said McIlroy, who noted that "my generation has moved past all of that. People, they get along."
Still, when it came time for golf in the Olympics, he was torn (before deciding not to play for other reasons). McIlroy said in 2012 that he saw himself as more British than Irish; Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. But in amateur sports, all of Ireland competes as one team in the Olympics.
It was a no-win decision for McIlroy, who decided he would play for Ireland before he withdrew from the Games. Playing golf with Trump was somewhat of a no-win decision too.
"I was a little bit taken back by the blowback I received, but I get why," McIlroy said. "I get the divisive rhetoric and everything that was said. It's a tough place to be in, a tough position. Maybe if I look back on it, I put myself in a position where I was going to get that from either side, one way or the other.
"I just felt I was doing what was respectful, and the president of the United States phones you up and wants to play golf with you, I wasn't going to say no. ... I actually enjoyed myself, had a good time. I'm sorry if I sort of, I don't know, pissed people off, but I felt I was in a position where I couldn't really do anything but say yes, respect the office even if you don't respect the guy that's in it, go play and go from there."
It was another step in McIlroy's comeback, though he didn't consider the round with Trump a full one. That didn't come until Thursday at The Bear's Club near his West Palm Beach home. McIlroy played again Friday and Saturday, took Sunday off and played Monday at Seminole Golf Club as part of its annual pro-member tournament.
On Friday, he played with No. 1-ranked Dustin Johnson and shot 65, with a friendly wager riding on the outcome.
"He played well. It was a good game," McIlroy said. "We were joking. It was quite a week for me. I got to play with the president of the United States and the best golfer in the world."