Few players are more universally popular among golf fans than Tony Finau. In Golf Digest’s most recent edition of the Tour Nice Guys Ranking, the 35-year-old Finau was No. 1. Yet as Golf Digest senior writer Joel Beall reveals, there are several people who say they have a legal claim to the golfer's career earnings and have not been paid.

The Golf Digest special report examines the uncommon route Finau took to the top of his sport, the people who helped him along the way, and the complicated question of whether these relationships were about goodwill, financial return, or something in between.