DENVER — The Broncos are bound for the White House on Monday, and John Elway has a rule.

Don’t eat there.

It was Week 11 of the 1989 season. The Broncos had a Monday night game at the Washington Redskins, and who doesn’t visit the White House for breakfast? In the interest of accuracy, I asked John Elway on Wednesday in a golf clubhouse: You got White House food poisoning?

“Yep. Chipped beef on toast,” he said. “I’ve not had it since.”

And we thought Sanchez-Lynch-Siemian was a quarterback controversy. Once again, Elway and Gary Kubiak are a step ahead: With Elway doubled over from a faulty presidential plate, Kubiak got the starting nod against the ‘Skins. The Broncos won 14-10, and Elway remembered he had one wish. Don’t you dare get hurt, Kubes.

“(Running back Steve) Sewell was the backup quarterback. He didn’t work out very well in warmups,” Elway said. “I’m lying on the table and they’ve got a little TV with a coat hanger stuck in as the antenna. I didn’t care who won or who lost. All I cared was that Gary got up every time.”

No wonder these guys swear by the other. After the first round of the CoBank Colorado Senior Open at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, Elway, the general manager who built the Super Bowl 50 champs, recalled his previous trip to the president’s home. There’s been only one.

When the Broncos won back-to-back Super Bowls during the Clinton presidency, the star quarterback elected not to attend. “It was my knee,” he said almost 20 years later, although there was speculation his absence was due to a conflict in political beliefs.

Elway leans right in the political pool, while the presidents, then and now, cannonball to the left. Any further controversy will remain with the current quarterbacks: Elway said he will be there when the world champs share a handshake — hopefully not a brunch buffet — with Barack Obama.

“A lot of guys are excited to go,” Elway said.

One key player in the Broncos’ championship push will be conspicuous in his absence. Brock Osweiler, who spurned the Broncos to sign as a free agent with the Texans, won’t join his former teammates at the White House.

Any bad feelings toward Brock?

“No,” Elway said. “That’s his choice. That’s up to him. If he doesn’t want to go, he doesn’t want to go.”

Elway shot an even-par 72 Wednesday. His golf game is in fine shape. After opening with a double-bogey on the first, he snuck back into contention with a late comeback. His approach on the par-5 18th hole – an 8-iron from about 150 yards, off a shaky uphill lie – landed 12 feet from the pin and brought a gallery of seven onlookers to its feet. He two-putted for par and sits five shots back of the tournament leaders. Elway said he tries to play three or four rounds per week, more often if he can.

“I like (competitive golf) because I like to compete,” Elway said. “I don’t get real stressed about it because I try not to. It fills that void.”

The masses say there’s a void at quarterback for the Broncos. Or is there?

Elway echoed the sentiments of Kubiak when he said the Broncos have a “good, healthy competition” between Mark Sanchez, Paxton Lynch and Trevor Siemian, the latter who has stood out during the team’s OTAs.

“Obviously with Brock leaving we were kind of in a different situation at quarterback. We thought he was going to kind of be the guy for the future. And obviously that threw a kink into it,” Elway said. “But I’m really excited about how it turned out.”

Contract negotiations between the Broncos and Super Bowl MVP Von Miller, linebacker Brandon Marshall and wideout Emmanuel Sanders are ongoing.

“The ideal thing would be to get all three of them done (by mid-July),” said Elway, the general manager. “That’s kind of the goal.”

I reminded Elway of the time Von Miller got food poisoning from what he said were movie-theater cheese sticks. “Exactly,” Elway said.

But that quarterback situation that’s the buzz of Colorado? The guy who figured it out back in 1989, will figure out it again, Elway said.

“(Kubiak) will find the right guy this year, whoever it may be.”

Twitter: @bypaulklee