McIlroy had stepped down from the board last year but said last month that he was ready to return and take Webb Simpson's place, with the American offering to resign from his role as one of the player directors.

But four-time major champion McIlroy has now said his discussions on his return got "pretty complicated and pretty messy" and that Simpson would remain on the board for the rest of his term.

"With the way it happened, it opened up some wounds and scar tissue from things that have happened before. And I think there was a subset of people on the board who were uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason," McIlroy told reporters.

"The best course of action is if there are some people on there who aren't comfortable with me coming back on, then I think Webb stays on and sees out his term. He's got to a place where he's comfortable with doing that.

"I just keep doing what I'm doing. I put my hand up to help, I wouldn't say it was rejected. I would just say it was a complicated process to put me back on there so that's all fine. No hard feelings and we'll all move on."

McIlroy had believed he could lend a hand in stalled negotiations between the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour after the two bodies announced a landmark agreement to merge and form a commercial entity to unify golf. Negotiations on the merger are still ongoing.

"I would say I'm impatient because I think we've got this window of opportunity to get it done because both sides, from a business perspective I wouldn't say, need to get it done, but it makes sense," McIlroy said.

"It's probably not going to feel great for either side, but if it's a place where the game of golf starts to thrive again and we can all get back together, then I think that's ultimately a really good thing."