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| Executive Travel |
End of the Earth
Nancy Holmes
04/01/2004
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Like many, he soon realized his skills as an author fell
short of his ambitions, and by 1980, he had returned to New York and launched
his storied hedge fund—Tiger. Robertson opened it with $8 million raised from
friends and former clients; its assets eventually swelled to over $23 billion.
But Robertson, like several other hedge fund luminaries of that era, failed to
stake his fortune on the technology boon, and as that market rose, his fund
plummeted in value. In 2000, with its value now about $6.5 billion, Robertson
decided to close it down.
 | | JULIAN ROBERTSON has built two world-class golf courses in New Zealand,
including Kauri Cliffs, opposite page. |
After so long amid the financial fray, the charms
of a property he had bought in 1995 in New Zealand came into full focus. “A
friend told me about some property that had become available, a farm called
Tepene Tablelands, so I went to take a look,” Robertson recalls. “What I saw was
close to 5,000 acres of such beauty that it takes your breath away, and I bought
it for about the price of a modest apartment in New York. It almost screamed for
a golf course. Both Josie and I love golf, so we began making plans to build
one.”
He renamed it Kauri Cliffs, in reference to the nearby New Zealand
trees that can grow to 150 feet tall and achieve girths of over 20 feet.
Renowned golf-course designer Dave Harman laid out the course, which was ranked
by Golf Magazine last year as among the top 100 courses in the world.
A
colleague of Harman’s, Wade Setliff, designed the lodge, which houses the dining
rooms, entertaining facilities and golf shop. A New Zealand designer, Kerry
Avery, took over from Setliff, and plans soon developed for an infinity pool,
tennis courts and a spa. The country’s top interior designer, Virginia Fisher,
worked with Josie on the decor of the lodge and cottages.
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