Player Profile
-
Dianne Cullen #
- Open Division Champion 2012
Spirit of the Game Award 2011
Age: 66
Occupation: Retired!
Mini golf experience: Dianne has been the low-scoring woman (or tied for that honor) in 11 of the 18 MC Mini Masters tournaments she has completed. She has placed as high as third overall, and she was the tournament leader after 4 rounds in 1999 before stumbling at Lighthouse and finishing fifth. Until 2007, Dianne held the Cullen family record for 18 holes of miniature golf, scoring a 33 at Sisolak's West in non-competitive play. She finished 1st or 2nd in the Putterz Division four straight years (2012-15). In her greatest miniature golf accomplishment, Dianne became the oldest winning contestant in the premiere season of the ABC mini golf game show Holey Moley in 2019, taking home $25,000, the champion's plaid jacket, and the Golden Putter.
Interesting facts: Dianne is a twin! She had a room so full of M&M memorabilia, it would give you diabetes. She once pitched a no-hitter in the Canadian-American softball tournament...and she was in her 40s at the time. Dianne is also an accomplished artist, having painted unique bedroom murals for many kids over the years. When she is not busy being good at pretty much everything, Dianne pretends to be really bad at cooking so she can get her husband to do all of it.
Interesting lies: Dianne's Martian name is Queekjam Flifnor. She is the U.S. Ambassador to Medicine Hat, Saskatchewan.
Player History
Past MC Mini Masters Results
2023: 49-45-47-47-45-37--270 (+14) (23rd/41 overall, 18th/32 Putterz Division)
2022: 50-43-45-48-42-45--273 (+10) (T-21st/42 overall, T-18th/35 Putterz Division)
2015: 47-45-41-45-40-42--260 (- 7) (T-5th/38 overall, T-2nd/30 Putterz Division)
2014: 48-46-42-47-40-39--262 (+ 7) (6th/39 overall, 2nd/31 Putterz Division)
2013: 47-46-40-39-44-44--260 (+ 5) (4th/32 overall, 2nd/26 Putterz Division)
2012: 48-45-39-47-40-45--264 (- 2) (4th/38 overall, 1st/30 Putterz Division)
2011: 56-43-39-42-40-43--263 (- 7) (8th/30 overall, 4th/22 Putterz Division)
2010: 49-42-39-42-42-43--257 (-13) (5th/29)
2009: 53-39-43-47-49-40--271 (+ 3) (8th/29)
2008: 45-46-42-45-44-45--267 (- 2) (6th/24)
2007: 52-53-44-50-44-57--300 (+25) (16th/25)
2006: 43-50-45-50-46-49--283 (+ 8) (9th/26)
2005: 46-51-46-51-46-53--293 (+23) (T-16th/37)
2004: 45-53-46-49-47-54--294 (+17) (T-9th/36)
2003: 45-50-45-49-49-50--288 (+ 8) (14th/32)
2002: 44-61-43-43-42-53--286 (+ 6) (10th/27)
2001: 47-51-43-44-54-45--284 (+ 7) (T-14th/35)
1999: 47-45-42-40-52-49--275 (- 2) (5th/26)
1997: 43-49-46-43-47-45--273 (- 4) (3rd/13)
Course Championships
Action Territory, 1999 (45)
Sisolak's West, 1999 (40)
Sisolak's West, 2009 (39)
Lighthouse, 2012 (39) [tied]
Congo Rapids, 2013 (40) [tied]
Congo Falls, 2013 (39) [tied]
Hole-in-one history
Action Territory: 3rd, 5th, 7th (3), 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th
Aloha Falls/Libertyville: 4th, 10th, 11th
Ballybunion: 2nd
Congo Falls: 15th, 16th
Congo Rapids: 2nd, 7th, 13th
Congo River: 2nd, 4th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 14th
Harry Semrow: none
Kristof's: 2nd, 7th (2), 11th, 13th, 16th, 17th
Lighthouse: 4th, 9th (2), 11th (3), 12th, 16th (3), 17th (4), 18th
Par-King Black: 3rd, 6th, 9th (3), 10th (2), 18th
Par-King Red: 1st, 6th (4), 11th (4), 12th, 16th (3), 17th, 18th (2)
Rocky's Fun House Gurnee: none
Rocky's Fun House Waukegan: none
Sisolak's East: 4th, 18th (2)
Sisolak's West: 3rd, 6th (2), 15th, 17th, 18th (5)
Wild West (Action Territory): 7th, 8th, 18th
Wisconsin Adventure (Action Territory): 13th
Personal records by course
Action Territory: 45 (1999)
Aloha Falls: 45 (2015)
Ballybunion: 46 (2005)
Congo Falls: 39 (2013)
Congo Rapids: 40 (2013)
Congo River Kenosha: 43 (1997, 2006)
Harry Semrow: TBD
Kristof's: 44 (2007)
Lighthouse: 39 (2012)
Par-King Black: 40 (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015)
Par-King Red: 37 (2023)
Rocky's Fun House Gurnee: 42 (2008)
Rocky's Fun House Waukegan: 47 (2009)
Sisolak's East: 42 (1999)
Sisolak's West: 39 (2009, 2010, 2011)
Wild West: 43 (2022)
Wisconsin Adventure: 47 (2015)
Career highlights
2015: Finished T-5th out of 38 players overall and T-2nd out of 30 players in the Putterz Division, the third straight year she's been a runner-up in that group...Finished 1st among the day's 11 female players, her fourth straight year as the low-scoring female...Tied for 4th at Lighthouse with a 41...Tied for third at Aloha Falls with a 45, beating her previous record there by 2 strokes...Tied for third at Par-King Black with a score equaling her previous personal best (40)...One of only three players to finish in the top five at three straight courses...Became the first MCMM player with back-to-back holes-in-one at Wild West (7th-8th holes)...Only two other aces were scored at those two holes by the entire field...Tied for the low score at Wild West's front 9 (21) and Aloha Falls' back 9 (21)...Tied for the most holes-in-one at Wild West (2) and the most twos at Lighthouse (14)...One of six players with no fives all day...One of five players with no hole scores over three at either of the Par-King courses...Tied for most birdies at Wild West (9) and Aloha Falls (5)...Tied for fewest total double bogeys on the day (1)...Her 34 birdies set a new personal best for one MCMM and tied for 4th in the field.
2014: Finished 6th out of 39 overall, 2nd out of 31 Putterz Division players (just 3 strokes out of 1st), and 1st out of 14 female players...Tied for low back 9 at Aloha Falls (21)...Tied for most 2s (13) and birdies (10) at Lighthouse and posted the fewest threes (2) at that course of any player...Tied for 4th place overall at Congo Rapids (42)...Led the field with 15 pars at Congo Rapids, establishing a new course record...Tied her personal low round at Par-King Black (40)...Established a new career best at Par-King Red (39), tying for 4th place overall at the course...Tied for most birdies at Par-King Red (5)...One of seven players with no hole scores of five all day long...Finished fifth in total birdies (25) and tied for fourth in total pars (57).
2013: Finished 4th out of 32 overall, 2nd out of 26 in the Putterz Division, and 1st out of 11 female players...Tied for the low score in the field at both Congo Rapids (40) and Congo Falls (39) in their MCMM debuts...Posted the low front 9 at Congo Rapids (18) and low back 9 at Congo Falls (18)...Recorded a Wacky Hole ace at Congo Falls' 15th...Tied for the low back 9 at Par-King Black (20)...Tied for the tourney lead in birdies at Congo Rapids (5)...Led all players in pars at Par-King Black (14)...Was the only player with two eagles at Par-King Red...Placed 2nd in total pars (62), posting a career high in that category.
2012: Won her first Putterz Division title, edging out Jason Gola by a single stroke (-2 to -1 overall)...Finished an outstanding 4th out of 38 overall, her best placement since coming in 3rd in a field of just 13 players in the very first Mini Masters in 1997...Posted a career-best of 39 at Lighthouse, marking her 4th straight year with a sub-40 round and tying for the course title, taking it on the holes-in-one tiebreak over Andrew Miller...She tied for both the low front 9 (20) and low back 9 (19) at the course in the process...Tied for 4th at Par-King Black (40)...Posted the third sixless tournament of her career, extending her sixless streak to 201 holes, the 3rd-longest active streak at the time...One of three players with only one bogey at Par-King Black...One of 11 players with an eagle at Par-King Red, earned on the roulette wheel, where she scored a one to Jason GOla's three, giving her the Putterz Division title.
2011: Led the field in threes at Action Territory (10) and tied for the lead in threes at the first round at Sisolak's West (8)...Had no hole scores over 3 in her two rounds at Sisolak's West or the two Par-King courses...Matched or tied her lowest career round at three of the day's five courses...Carded her third career sub-40 round in the 2nd go-around at Sisolak's West (39)...Finished 2nd out of the tournament's 14 female players...Posted the second-lowest total score of her career...Had the fewest fours of the tournament field (2), only one more than the all-time record low...With only one five and two sixes all day, this was the fewest hole scores over three (5) in any tourney of her career, and tied for the lowest total of the day.
2010: Scored her 2nd career sub-40 round with a 39 in the 2nd round at Sisolak's West, tying for 3rd-lowest score of the round...Tied for 2nd-lowest score in first round at Sisolak's West (40)...Had the 4th-lowest score of the day at Lighthouse (42) and Par-King Black (42)... Her round at Lighthouse was bogeyless, one of two such rounds in the entire tournament, making her only the 8th player to achieve the feat. It was the 14th all-time bogeyless round in the MCMM, and the first such round by a female player...Finished with the low score of the 13 female competitors...Her total of 257 was the lowest of her Mini Masters career...Had her second consecutive sixless tournament...Led the tournament field in pars at Action Territory (12, tied), birdies in round 1 at Sisolak's West (8), pars at Lighthouse (10), and birdies at Par-King Black (8).
2009: Won the course title during the first round at Sisolak's West by carding her first-ever sub-40 round (39)...In the process, Dianne established the record for longest gap between course titles in MCMM history (10 years)...Carded 15 twos during that round to tie for the tourney lead...Led the field in twos at Lighthouse (12) and Par-King Red (16), establishing the course record at the latter until it was broken by Karen Kemnitz in 2011...Had no threes in her round at Par-King Red, making her the only player ever to accomplish that feat...Started that round with 12 straight twos before scoring a 4 on the 13th...Tied for the third-lowest round at Lighthouse (43) and Par-King Red (40)...Tied for the tourney lead in birdies at Sisolak's West (9) and Lighthouse (10)...Had the lowest total score of the day's 14 female competitors...Recorded the first sixless tourney of her career.
2008: Was par or under par the first four rounds of the day...One of only three players not to be over par at Action Territory...Led the field in birdies at Action Territory (6) and tied for most birdies at Par-King Red (4)...Tied for third in holes-in-one (6)...One of five players with three aces at Lighthouse, all of which were eagles...Had the lowest score of the day's ten female competitors, besting Carrie McGowan by a stroke.
2007: Tied for the tourney lead in birdies (5) at Action Territory...Carded 15 pars at People's Choice to lead the field and set the all-time course record...Had fifth-lowest score at Kristof's (44)...Finished 6th out of 12 female putters.
2006: Had all twos on the front 9 at Congo River to tie for the lowest front-9 score in the field (18)...Recorded six birdies at Congo River to tie for the tourney lead...Had only 2 threes at the course to tie for the lowest total in the field...Also tied for the lowest front-9 score at Action Territory (20)...Finished 3rd out of 12 female players...
2005: Was the first player in tournament history to record a hole-in-one at Congo River's 9th hole, one of only two aces at that hole in the 12 years it was in the tournament...Tied for the tourney lead with 8 threes at Kristof's...Finished 4th out of 15 female players.
2004: Tied for the tourney lead in fours at Kristof's (6)...Tied for 1st among the 12 female players.
2003: Recorded back-to-back holes-in-one at Action Territory's 13th and 14th holes...Tied for the tourney lead in threes at Action Territory (9) and Sisolak's West (9)...Tied for tourney lead in pars at Congo River (10)...Tied for fifth-lowest score at Libertyville (50)...Finished 2nd among the 11 female competitors.
2002: Finished 1st out of 12 female competitors...Tied for the tourney lead in twos at Sisolak's West (13) and Lighthouse (14)...Scored 1-2-3-4-5-6 at Action Territory.
2001: Scored back-to-back holes-in-one at Kristof's 16th and 17th holes...Tied for 4th among the 18 female players...Tied for the tourney lead in pars at Sisolak's West (12) and birdies at Sisolak's East (9)...Led the field in pars (53).
1999: Won her first career course title by being the only player under par at Action Territory (45), helped along by an ace at the notorious "trough hole," #15...Earned her second course title of the day with a 40 at Sisolak's West...Led the field by a stroke after the fourth round...Was among the five lowest scores at each of the first four courses...Tied for the most holes-in-one at three of the day's four courses...Tied for the fewest total fours (8) in the field...Scored the entire tournament's only two double eagles, a feat which remains tied for the single-tournament record...Led the field in pars (56)...Tied for the fewest total bogeys among all tournament players (15).
1997: Recorded the second hole-in-one in tournament history by acing Congo River's 2nd hole...Had the 2nd-lowest score at Congo River (43)...Scored back-to-back holes-in-one at Lighthouse's 16th and 17th holes...Finished 1st among the 7 female competitors...Tied for the tourney lead in holes-in-one at Congo River (9) and Lighthouse (3) and twos at Sisolak's East (13) and Kristof's (10)...Tied for the tourney lead in birdies at Congo River (8), which remains tied for the all-time MCMM record... Led the tourney field in eagles at Lighthouse (3)...Tied for the tourney lead in total eagles (4).
Random Stat
Dianne's 10 years between course championships is the widest such gap in MCMM history. Both victories came at Sisolak's West (1999 and 2009).
